Amazing Experience with The Potter’s School

My daughter studied at The Potter’s School for three years. She scored 1400 on her SATs and got a 4 on the AP Calculus BC test. But when she asked her teachers to give her evaluations for her application to the US Air Force Academy, they said that the policy required the director, Jeff Gilbert, to approve before they could do so. He refused, saying that my daughter is not qualified for USAFA. Mr. Gilbert refused to speak with me, and at that time would give me no explanation. I had a very hard time finding out who is on The Potter’s School governing board, but I eventually found one name, who was also one of my daughter’s teachers. I reached out to him, but he responded that the board does not get involved in decisions about running the school. What?!? Eventually, after trying to ascertain why he refused to allow my daughter any teacher recommendations, Mr. Gilbert finally sent me a long list of her academic transgressions. Were any of them true, I should have been notified about them long before then. After speaking to two people who know Mr. Gilbert personally, my understanding is that he has favorites, and if you are not a favorite, you will get no help from him. He threatened to call USAFA and tell them I was trying to coerce an undeserved recommendation for my daughter. I replied, “No person can thwart God’s plan for her future, whether it involves the academy or not.” Despite the very good teaching my daughter received there, I would never enroll anyone in The Potter’s School again. As a high school teacher myself, I am appalled that a director would refuse to allow teachers to give recommendations they were willing to give.

True and they threaten to take you out of classes if you don’t understand something and ask for a different person to communicate with. It’s horrible! There is absolutely no accountability for their actions with threats or name calling. It seems like they use the fear tactic so they can continue to behave whatever way the deem best. The only way to contact is by messages, no human contact by actual conversation.

Our family took a few classes with TPS last year. I would advise anyone considering TPS to think twice. The main problem was little accountability for the teachers. In English, a different person besides the on line teacher graded all of the tests and papers. This was a frustration for my child because he was getting comments on his papers that had nothing to do with what was discussed in class. We did not even know there were really two instructors involved until the very end of school. In another class, the teacher consistently dismissed students 15 minutes early. This may not seem like a big deal; however, when each class only met 1.5 hours a week, the missed time added up. The 4-6 grade classes (at least the one my child was in) did even have tests or grades. There was only about 30 minutes of homework a week and much of instruction time consisted of videos from other sources, which we could easily have done on our own. Many of students were international. We had no objection to this in and off itself. However, many of the students were lonely, living in isolated locations. The student chat column, displayed during class time, was often filled with conversation that had nothing to do with the course material. This was distracting to the kids trying to pay attention. I felt sorry for these kids, but a better alternative would have been for them to join FB or some other kind of teen chat group. And the classes are expensive. If you pay full price, you will be asked to contribute to missionary kids’ tuition each and every time you make a payment. We support missions, but will not give to organizations until we have familiarity with them. And since we did not give, a “0” showed up on our account records from there on out that we had chosen not to give any extra. We just were not comfortable with this practice. I also found the director to be very sarcastic and rude when I addressed some of these concerns.

We have used The Potter’s School for two years of high school. My daughter’s junior year couldn’t have been better. The instructors were very accessible and showed real interest in her. This year has been another story. She has 6 courses. Two instructors are wonderful. The remaining have been very distant, offering little feedback or encouragement. I have emailed them more than once with concerns and have received replies which have bordered on being rude. Once, my daughter’s teacher counted off 2 points per problem on a math test (20 questions) because she didn’t show her work. There was not enough room provided. I later emailed the teacher and asked if we could scan and email her my daughter’s paper where she worked the problems. She said no. And gave no credit back at all. Another annoyance is that a 3 hour college course takes 2 semesters to complete. Then she must have an 80 average to even apply for credit–at an additional charge. Community college courses would be less expensive. And I feel she would receive better instruction.

This is our second year with TPS. Last year, my daughter was a junior and wanted to start being more independent in preparation for college. We used Potter’s School for all her courses and were very pleased. The teacher’s were very personable and accessible. This year, her senior year, we again are at TPS. However, the experience is much different. She has a very full load–six courses. Three of the teachers are everything you’d want them to be, but the other three are very disappointing. They grade extremely harshly, offer no input, and grace is never extended if there’s confusion on my daughter’s part for any reason. When I have emailed these teachers with questions or concerns, their replies to me have been very disinterested, and sometimes rude. On top of this, the year has been fraught with technical issues. Classes are supposed to be recorded live and be able to be reviewed, but for weeks they were not recorded. Even now in the second semester, some classes end early because apparently they have more students online than they have the capability to handle. And these classes are very expensive!! They should be able to keep their equipment updated.