Pinecrest Lakes Academy - Clermont, Florida

Jennifer Barr

This school was great when it first opened 5 years ago, we were happy to be one of the first families to transfer there. My oldest struggled every single year. No real interventions or additional help for kids with ADHD/504. My Daughter was constantly left behind and made to feel bad like she should be responsible “like a college student.” More about money than helping kids who really need the extra assistance. If your children are special needs, stay away. Communicating with administrators was always a nightmare if they even responded at all. Outside volunteers are allowed into the school and are allowed to sit with your children even if you tell the school certain individuals aren’t allowed there. We were told to get an attorney. Now, my situation is a little out of the ordinary but my children were placed in positions I tried to avoid and the principal raised her voice at me and told me to “get over it.”

Completely unprofessional and if I have the time and the funds I would sue this school. I am thankful we were able to move schools and start this year fresh for the first time in years without both of my girls feeling completely overwhelmed, myself included. This school is more of a nightmare when it comes to mental health because the “counselor,” on staff doesn’t even carry a degree to match the title. She also didn’t respond to my emails until the last week of school and they realized my oldest was going to fail 5th grade. They rushed and helped her complete missing work to bring the grades up, but again, too late. The damage of us not being heard or even listened to really effected our family.

I will reiterate. Anyone can walk in and volunteer at this school no questions asked as long as they register with the district. What would this school do if the person I am no contact with actually took my children and ran off? It’s that serious and the school needs to be governed better than a lippy principal out to take her staff on a booze cruise instead of focusing in house on the education.

Don’t send your kids here.

TheReal SkyeLife

The teachers were great! They provided a great learning environment and my child thrived academically there. The administration, however, was a NIGHTMARE! The principal, for example, thinks she knows everything, LITERALLY saying that she knows what's best for OUR child (whom she's NEVER spoken to) instead of US (the parents), refusing to even HEAR or READ our request. She was repeatedly rude, condescending, and dismissive and just an overall terrible person to be the LEADER of an elementary.

Although the office staff was nice, they lost paperwork (which I had to replace) on SEVERAL occasions! There was an overall theme of disorganization and miscommunication there. Even though we chose this school for its curriculum, we ultimately had to remove our child for our own sanity (and his; he begged to be pulled out of the hybrid virtual learning environment because his teacher never followed the schedule she provided and forgot to tell the kids at home so he was frequently out of the loop and frustrated [I confirmed this by sitting in on his class]).

There was no way we could leave our child at that school under that terrible principal for 14 years! (He started there in Pre-K). The constant last minute communication and ridiculous car line protocols were just the icing on the cake! If there was a different principal we probably would have tried to make it work, but unfortunately we have met over 5 other families who have also moved their children out of the school because of the PRINCIPAL! It's CRAZY, I've never heard of such a thing.

Yarelis Acosta

I regretted immensely enrolling my 5yr old daughter here the Kindergarten teacher she is the Master of Complaints, please parents if you are thinking about enrolling your child here please don’t!
The before and after Care; all children of all ages mixed up together, my daughter was way over stimulated and not in a good way, coming from a small academy to a big school with children of all ages, I come home everyday frustrated with the mediocrity, They only way of communication is through an app that’s it, One afternoon I came to pick up my daughter One of the staff member came with an incident report in front of other parents, found that so unethical and unprofessional there was no privacy to discuss the situation.
My daughter it’s on speech therapy the school has made it really hard for her therapist to enter the facility even though she already had the permits and clearance from the county do it so.
They pretend 5yrs old knows everything! All they care is about the numbers! For funds $$ the whole high reviews is all A Scam.
As a daughter of a Teacher myself a Health Professional it baffles me this teacher cannot control a 5yr old? what kind of school is this? I have my doubts if that Kindergarten teacher have the proper credentials understanding the psychological and child needs. Never had this experience before. I withdrew my daughter abruptly causing me financially stress to us as parents my 5yr old daughter abruptly change of environment due to the mediocrity. None of the staff member have approached us wanted to know why? or at least to have a conversation why we’ve made this decision, There’s no commitment! Shame Shame Shame!!

PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS SCHOOL!!

diane p

The school and teachers are great. It is academically challenging but if you work with your kids on their homework it’s no issue and takes about 20 minutes if that. As far as some comments on carline, when you read the parent handbook when you join the school it says you may not line up earlier than 10 minutes before dismissal so not sure why anyone would be surprised when it’s enforced.

Kimmy

This school broke my 10 year old. She had an amazing first year and then the second year was complete hell. She was talked down to by her teachers, made to feel bad because she has ADHD, and was actually told that her ADHD is not an excuse for her to not pay attention… she eventually stopped wanting to go to school. When I brought up my concerns with the principal, she told me I was wrong and that what my daughter had told me was completely false. I cannot tell you how many times I picked my kid up and had her burst into tears once the car door was closed. She’s been in therapy for over a year, and has had to re-learn how to trust teachers and other authorities, and has had to re-learn how to have fun at school.

Soviet union

The PE teachers are absolutely horrible. When I was in 5th grade, a few kids got in trouble during PE. No biggie, right? But instead of letting those kids not play, they held up the ENTIRE 5th grade PE class for 20 minutes. It was 80 degrees and we ended up not doing ANYTHING. Everything else is fine, it's just the PE teachers.

Addie no

Very happy with the school here. No school is perfect but this place is pretty darn close and they are always striving for excellence and ways to improve. My niece is thriving here. Her teacher is wonderful. The staff is fantastic.

Kevin Negron

Moved from Miami a year ago where the schools although nice neighborhoods are AWFUL and AWFUL kids ! I am beyond elated we chose such a wonderful school for our kids . Our daughter fit right in her grades soared and she’s doing so well . We started my son this year in pre-K and I couldn’t be any happier with the curriculum and his amazing teachers . We truly never experienced public/charter school our daughter was in private school in Miami and the education here is like no other . Lake county schools are amazing and pinecrest I highly recommend