University Preparatory Academy

I am at a lost for words!nnI loved this school the first two years. But it's going down hill and fast.nTEACHERS: My boys have come home saying that their teachers are leaving. high turn over of teachers. The teachers are not strong enough to deal with the kids. The kids are very disrespectful and can barely teach during class.nPOLICY: No consistency in what the staff tells you or their school policy.nACADEMICS: There is no advancement or honor courses. My oldest son was testing high and needing advanced courses. They told my husband and I that in order for him to take advanced classes, he would have to sign up for Florida Virtual School, in addition to going to school all day.nABUSE: My youngest son tells me every day that other students hit him and he tells the teachers and they do nothing about it.nnYes, this school is trying their best but it's not enough. I think they oversold what they came here to do. This school is not preparing the students for college. It's all a lie! The good students are leaving because the bad kids are being catered to.

It is an honor for our team to serve the St. Petersburg community the last two years. We are fortunate to work with a talented group of educators, great scholars and a supportive community. Since the arrival of our new team in January 2014, enrollment has grown by 200 plus scholars.That's tremendous growth.nOn average, our 400 plus scholars grew 2.0 years in reading and 1.87 years in math on NWEA, a nationally normed test. That is excellent academic growth. If the school can maintain this rate of growth, the achievement gap will begin to disappear over the next two years.nOur staff turnover is extremely low. Since the arrival of the new team two years ago, the school has only lost 8 teachers, out of a staff of 42 employees. Our staff is 40 percent male, and extemely diverse in terms of ethnic backgrounds.nWe welcome vistors and potential families to visit our building and classrooms. Visitors are often impressed that our scholars are so well behaved and respectful. Our hope is that the day will come that scholars from underserved communities want be judged soley on behavior, but more on academic performance. The expectation for scholars to be well behaved is a minimal expectation. We expect nothing less.nOur focus is get scholars 100% engaged in the academic process. We want to be a catalyst for reinspiring a generation of scholars in the value of education, so they can eventually achieve their dreams and aspirations.nOur entire existence, our entire focus is to serve a community that houses the 5 lowest performing traditional elementary schools in Florida. We are partners, not competitors, in this change process. A process to rectify some pervasive academic issues that we must address as a collective to ensure the vibrancy of this wonderful community. This is heavy lifting and we are willing to engage in the process of doing so. UPA did create this environment, but we are active participants in trying to close an unacceptable achievement gap. This type of work that takes time to create and maintain sustainibility.nThe academic challenge in this community is not new. We are here to partner with all stakeholders to find the solution to this solve the issue of underachievement of scholars in our community who all have the potential to achieve anything. Our scholars and those at our surrounding schools are brilliant and bright. As educators, our focus is to give them access to a quality education so they can be agents of change within our community.nWe welcome you to our school... become a UPAer!

I like the school so much cuz of my favorite school to learn and do stuff you can go in the treasure box and you can go in it and other stuff and I can take it to go in the treasure box tomorrow