Lavilla School of the Arts

Honestly, an amazing school. Academics, great. Teachers and staff, okay. Homework, a problem. To start, some teachers are great, others, not so much. For example, my math teacher. Ron Mccollough. He only gives you 10 bathroom passes in a year. 2 passes per 9 weeks. Quite bad for you, and very selfish. Some people have bathroom issues, and what about females? Insanely rude. Mrs. Fry. She acts like she’s it. She just doesn’t have teaching potential. She will yell at her students. Make them feel uncomfortable, coming from vents by my theatre friends. The homework issue, it’s ridiculous. It’s horrible. We go to school for 8 hours just to get 3 hours of work when we get home. Home is a place to relax, and chill out from your stressful school day. Homework doesn’t help with that. 80% of teens have anxiety, depression. And homework adds to the stress. We got to school to learn and practice. Not home to just slam a stack of papers on the table. Lunch money. Food is getting harder to get now with inflation. Paychecks, taxes, etc. Just crazy how children need to pay for a lunch. And if they don’t, they only get a salad with uncooked chicken. Disgusting and disappointing. Otherwise, this is a great school. Friends, supportive people, no strict dress code.

This school is overall a great experience, and very fun to attend. There are a few issues, typically students (mostly the dancers and vocal kids lololol) just straight up bullying people. several kids will go up to you and others and yell at you trying to insinuate a fight, and when you tell them politely to leave they don't. if you show even slight attitude to these people you always get targeted for standing up for yourself. also, i think the assigned seating at lunch thing is pretty stupid, as literally nobody follows it at all but if you get caught u get like a class 2 referral (i think its class 2 idk) lastly, some staff are absolutely INSUFFERABLE. some complaints i may say is the staff member Ms. Campbell (not the film and digital art teacher, shes amazing), Ms. Dunnaway (im not sure her name but i do know shes a dance teacher) and the counselor, Ms Wren. The non-teacher Ms. Campbell is constantly yelling and getting onto you over the tiniest things. Ms. Dunnaway (again, im not sure if thats her name because I'm not in the dance program) is just like that, but 10 times worse. she will cause chaos in the hallways trying to enforce rules about the flow of the traffic she makes up on the spot and you never hear about before or after he yelling at you. Ms Wren is very dismissive of children's problems. She's very sweet and kind, but she's not a very good listener. When I tried to talk to her about getting help and how to cope with my emotions, she simply blamed it on my arts area burning me out despite me saying twice that my art was not the issue. She is very kind though, and I'm not sure she means to be dismissive. Another issue is the reactions staff have to bullying or drama. Usually they just blame everyone equally in every situation, even if you're simply defending yourself. Also, several students have been reported for sexual harassment to the dean, but these accused simply say that their accusations are rumors, and they get off completely scotch free. it is very agitating to me that when i yell at someone for pouring their iced tea all over at me i get a referral, but a boy saying incredibly weird comments to multiple girls after they tell him to stop gets completely ignored simply because he denies them (8th grade class of 26-27, you know who im talking about) However, there are some very good things about this school. For one, a good half of the teachers are extrmely friendly and have only the best intentions for students. Ms. Campbell (the film and digital art teacher one) is extremely kind towards kids and very empathetic to students who need help. she is very supportive and always cheers me up whenever im feeling down. her class was very enjoyable when i had it in 6th grade, and im very sad art students only get her for one year. Also, Ms. Withers, Ms. Defeo, Ms. Valdez, Ms. Jackson, Ms. Keller, Coach Ingraham, and Mr. Collier are all excellent teachers and very helpful, kind, and great at teaching the students. My heart goes out to these teachers, as i understand how hard their job is, espeically with budget cuts and legal restriction throughout the district. Overall, this school is way better than most schools (espeically Jacksonville Classical Academy. that place is HORRENDOUS.) including private schools. From my experience, the art lessons are extrmely beneficial towards creative individuals, and if you can deal with a few insufferable moments a day, this is a great option. (most) of the kids are friendly and eager to make new friends with as many people as possible.

My sister she was in this school me and family came to watch her performance awesome she quit shorty after me and family was to proud of her and hard work at the show though my entire school even went on a field trip here just to see her 🥰 she has great talent she needs stability lol 😂 I think they did the nut crackers back then lol 😂💀what the hell this was years ago

I just came from a jazz concert at Lavilla School. I must say I was pleasantly surprised! Excellent is how I would describe my experience.