Fusion Academy- not what we expected

[Anonymous]

We are also at Tysons and it has been a great experience for my kid - life changing, in fact. Definitely recommend this community.

[Anonymous]

We’ve had a great experience at the Columbia campus.

[Anonymous]

I’m one of the PP who said we’ve had a good experience at Tyson’s. I wanted to add more detail - good experience in that the administration and teachers are heavily involved in the community. I feel like I can call them and work through things. I also like that they are strict on behavior and respond quickly. My child doesn’t have academic issues though so I don’t know what kinds of support exist. I do always remind myself that no school is perfect - and you bring all of your problems with you - the academics are very solid and the stress level because of the schedule and environment low. Socially it’s small but my child does have friends and social connections. You also get a daily write up for each class so if there was a problem I like that I’m in theory not going to be blind sided (which I was by our previous school)

[Anonymous]

They have no idea how to deal with kids with disabilities. We had a bad experience at Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have no idea how to deal with kids with disabilities. We had a bad experience at Alexandria.

Same for us - at Alexandria.

I acknowledge my child’s behaviors in homework cafe/lunch but there really wasn’t any effort communicated to us to try to help my child overcome difficulties with a particular peer.


They did return our deposit when they said my child could not continue there so that is something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have no idea how to deal with kids with disabilities. We had a bad experience at Alexandria.

Same for us - at Alexandria.

I acknowledge my child’s behaviors in homework cafe/lunch but there really wasn’t any effort communicated to us to try to help my child overcome difficulties with a particular peer.


They did return our deposit when they said my child could not continue there so that is something.

PP here who wrote about Tysons - when we were looking at schools our ed consultants told us some campuses were very very hit or miss - they highly recommended Tysons.

[Anonymous]

My child has dyslexia/dyscalculia and goes to Columbia. I posted above, they don’t remediate, which wasn’t expected, but they accommodate and tailor to her strengths. We’ve been very happy and it has been her best school experience in about a decade. That being said, her social life is not based around the school at all.

[Anonymous]

Some people commented on the quality of teachers. Pay is a huge problem and as a result they have a lot of turnover at some campuses. Also, teacher qualifications are iffy - most are not trained as educators so it depends on what they are teaching. For some subjects content expertise is more important than teaching experience.

[Anonymous]

Is Fusion sort of a franchise in that the quality and approach really varies by location? Does anyone have experience with the DC campus in DuPont? After reading many of these reviews I’m wondering if we should be looking to Tysons instead….my child loves the idea of learning one on one but also wants some social interaction etc

[Anonymous]

Hoping to get a bit more information on unstructured times at Fusion. The 1 to 1 appeal is huge, but we are concerned about the unstructured times and what support is available to supervise kids, make sure they are on task with homework and monitor at lunch. We have a middle schooler.

[Anonymous]

Hoping to get a bit more information on unstructured times at Fusion. The 1 to 1 appeal is huge, but we are concerned about the unstructured times and what support is available to supervise kids, make sure they are on task with homework and monitor at lunch. We have a middle schooler.

[Anonymous]

Same concern, I know my child won’t initiate task on his own, you give him a laptop he will play games.

I also wonder what majority of student profile look like there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher and I have seen Fusion advertising for teachers on Indeed. The pay is low $25-30 per hour and the jobs are mostly advertised as part time so no benefits.
No way are they able to hire people who know the content and are experienced in providing a variety of supports.

This. How about the leadership is not motivating? Kids are actually very smart and if you knew how boring it was you would be complaining but most kids don't know how to complain, that's the teachers job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s tough when students absolutely refuse to do work and are smart enough to realize there is really nothing a school or teacher can do. You can’t make a student pick up a pencil and write or read or do math. You can encourage them, reward them, cajole them but in the end there are some kids who will dig in their heels.

Is there a consequence at home for not doing work at school? Are screens taken away?

I know two men who have very long successful careers and are experts in their field that never did homework at all until college. It happens and it's not fatal especially for boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s tough when students absolutely refuse to do work and are smart enough to realize there is really nothing a school or teacher can do. You can’t make a student pick up a pencil and write or read or do math. You can encourage them, reward them, cajole them but in the end there are some kids who will dig in their heels.

Is there a consequence at home for not doing work at school? Are screens taken away?

I know two men who have very long successful careers and are experts in their field that never did homework at all until college. It happens and it's not fatal especially for boys.

I was like this. I never studied for a test either. I didn’t do great in high school and graduated college with a 2.7. After a couple of years in the working world, I decided to go back to law school. Luckily, I tested well so did great on the LSAT and was able to get into a mid-tier law school. I don’t know if it was maturity or the fact that I was actually interested in the subjects, but I excelled in law school and graduated in the top 10%.

Don’t write off kids who don’t do homework. Some of us are late bloomers.