Texas Virtual Academy at Hallsville - Lewisville, Texas

tl L.

My husband and I chose remote learning due to my serious health conditions and my son's asthma. Covid could be serious for our family. I thought k12 was an answered prayer, but it has been an incredibly frustrating experience. Administrative staff has been non-existent. This is my second year and only because of 1 dedicated teacher and a newly hired administrator was I able to finally speak to a human after a full year. They make it impossible to reach anyone. The website has issues updating grades in the system so my child's grade book will show 0's when I've watched her complete those assignments. The teachers don't believe her, or her grown adult mother when we report these issues. I have to push to get them to investigate only to find I was telling the truth. Some will direct us to tech support, but they never answer. IF they do, they never actually complete tickets. I'm still waiting for a ticket to be resolved from last year. The teachers are our only point of contact and they have 200 students so they can't act as admin and tend to the numerous amount of tasks teachers have as is. We've had issues with bullying, students spamming the n-word to shut down chat...teachers are sharing their racist/ bias views with students and social platforms. It's a mess.

Spread L.

Juan Rodriguez is right. This is my daughters second year in this school. Last year was amazing. The staff was responsive, the principle was on top of things, and the students enjoyed learning from their teachers. The teachers are still amazing and they're the only reason I've toughed it out to try and complete this year.

My daughter did not receive her books this year.
After complaining several times to the staff, and yes the principle (I have emails to prove it)...My daughter is still without books and we're into second semester.

During one of these "made up" mandatory in person tutorials, twice a month by the way...AND OUR STUDENTS HAVE EXCELLENT GRADES!!!..all the way in Lewisville!!! I was told by one of the parents that her best friend is on the staff at this school and this school has lost a lot of its funding because students are dropping out left and right...so these made up mandatory tutorials is their way to get funding for the school?

First of all...the students have excellent grades.
Second...this is an online school...if the students have to travel to another city just for tutoring...then why in the world are you an online school? That doesn't say much for your curriculum and abilities as educators.
Are you in this for the funding or what?

Now the teachers are the best and they make it easy and fun for the kids to learn...We absolutely love the teachers.

However, things must be difficult for the teachers too because they've been leaving and "transitioning" to other areas.

I don't know who's in charge this year...but someone should step in and get things back on track.

Until then...I'm transferring my daughter.

Shervon D. D.

Very disappointed in how my daughters last senior semester at this school has went! They failed to do there job! My daughters senior substitute algebra teacher was horrible! She really doesn’t care if your child succeeds! When it comes to my child education, I will definitely be taking this issue further! No child should be left feeling like there not smart enough! Especially a child who has a 504 plan!

Christienah

I could say many wonderful things about homeschooling and this school in particular. Not only do we have religious tolerance but so much more. Just the tip of a big iceberg. I became deathly ill. At 9 my daughter started fighting to save my life. 2 years later I couldn't get her to leave me even though I was miraculously doing much better. This has given her a chance to recover also and she hates cafeteria food. The teachers are so caring. There is no shortage of communication or respect. I like that my daughter isn't at a bus stop in bad weather or concerned with her clothes or superficial things. This has been a blessing for our healing family and we love the opportunity.

Beth C.

This school has been absolutely great. And a wonderful alternative to the distance learning mess our brick and mortar district was giving. If you are not invested in your child’s education, this program is NOT for you. If you are unable to sit for x amount of hours helping to guide your child. This program is not for you. You are the learning coach, you have a role and very important one in K12. With that being said, being able to see my child grow with this program has been amazing! I don’t think we will be able to go back to brick and mortar once the pandemic is over because he will be to far ahead in learning and B&M will hold him back. I am very grateful to this program and it being available during this crazy time.

Loni S.

I am only in the enrollment/schedulingprocess and the communication is horrible. There are few points of contact which is odd because school is virtual and if you call to try to get a number or email they act as if an email or phone number is top secret. I was so excited about starting online school for my son. However, this experience has already dampened my enthusiasm. Based on other comments, I suspect that the enrollment issue may be just the beginning.

St4rryNights

Daughter has gone here for 3 years. The 1st two I did a LOT of guided learning bc of her ADHD and other needs. This year (Freshman) its like a light came on and she is doing well with little help.
Teachers called ME a LOT and are easy to reach via email.
2 others enrolled easily in June. But 4th did enrollment in Sept and I am disappointed bc there isn't a notice anywhere that they are wait listing.....and I did all the paperwork, without admin even emailing me about waiting. I finally had to call to find this out.

Kiesha T.

My two middle school kids were enrolled in TVAH the second semester of the school year because I was unhappy with their brick and mortar schools education and things they were learning from other

Registration process was a little tedious because of our situation. I was the learning coach for both of my children but I was not the legal guardian of one of my children. Since one of my child is a stepchild I needed his father to sign some forms. We needed to tie our information together to show that me and the father were married and my child and his child are living in the same house hold together. There were a couple of times were I had to call the registration specialist because it was not clear what documents would be acceptable. They were able to help me and they were both professional. We got accepted and they were able to start
It was bit of a learning curve for them and myself at first. I did a ton of research before hand because I was the learning coach. I took one week off from work to help them get started. After the first week I went back to work. I put a camera in to check on them while I was at work and we used ALEXA to communicate throughout the day. When they took that first USA test prep, they both got F’s. Then they started thinking it was a big mistake. I reminded them they got F’s at the brick and mortar school and just because it is online it does not mean it’s going to be easy. So I made them study more and prepare more.
I was happy I had access to all of their assignments before it had to be done. We studied the assignments ahead of time. When it came time for class connect sessions with the teachers, my children already knew what the teacher was talking about and they were very active in the class rooms.
Over time my children’s grades began to rise. As they rose they became more confident. At the end of the semester one had all a’s and the other one had all a’s and one b. They both got some type of end of the year reward.