New school -- Fusion Academy -- anyone heard of it?

[Anonymous]

Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

Just curious, if she's in 11th grade, maybe the remaining 1.5 years of school IS the "stopgap." I can't see t being beneficial to put her in fusion for a semester or two and then back to public for the remainder of senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

Just curious, if she's in 11th grade, maybe the remaining 1.5 years of school IS the "stopgap." I can't see t being beneficial to put her in fusion for a semester or two and then back to public for the remainder of senior year.

I could. If a child is getting treated for anxiety/depression, a semester or two might give them the time to give therapy and medication time to improve their over all well being in a lower stress environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

Just curious, if she's in 11th grade, maybe the remaining 1.5 years of school IS the "stopgap." I can't see t being beneficial to put her in fusion for a semester or two and then back to public for the remainder of senior year.

I could. If a child is getting treated for anxiety/depression, a semester or two might give them the time to give therapy and medication time to improve their over all well being in a lower stress environment.

Right but at this age that would put her back in public for the last semester of her senior year. It seems like for any school change at this age, it would make sense to have it be the final change. She's 2 semesters and 1 quarter from graduating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

Just curious, if she's in 11th grade, maybe the remaining 1.5 years of school IS the "stopgap." I can't see t being beneficial to put her in fusion for a semester or two and then back to public for the remainder of senior year.

I could. If a child is getting treated for anxiety/depression, a semester or two might give them the time to give therapy and medication time to improve their over all well being in a lower stress environment.

Right but at this age that would put her back in public for the last semester of her senior year. It seems like for any school change at this age, it would make sense to have it be the final change. She's 2 semesters and 1 quarter from graduating!

Change in school only needs to help the kid. It doesn't need to make sense to others.

[Anonymous]

Check out Blythe templeton academy on capital hill

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just visited the Tysons location yesterday and we are considering it for 11th grader DD who really started struggling this year in public HS. It seems like it could be a great option. Warm atmosphere, engaged teachers and administrator. Will decide soon but probably will have to figure out how to manage the cost. We may use it as a stop gap while addressing underlying anxiety/depression.

Just curious, if she's in 11th grade, maybe the remaining 1.5 years of school IS the "stopgap." I can't see t being beneficial to put her in fusion for a semester or two and then back to public for the remainder of senior year.

Apparently some kids will come in for short period while they get squared away with treatment for acute situation and go back into regular school afterwards. Agree the timing here would make that re-transition really tough unless she's only there for one semester.

[Anonymous]

Don't send your kids under any circumstances. They pay teacher 24 an hour charge patents 160 an hour and then bury thousands of dollars in contract and don't tell you. If you have 200k for 1 child for teachers that are 24 years old and get price gauged.... Then go for it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't send your kids under any circumstances. They pay teacher 24 an hour charge patents 160 an hour and then bury thousands of dollars in contract and don't tell you. If you have 200k for 1 child for teachers that are 24 years old and get price gauged.... Then go for it

What is your affiliation with the school? Your source of knowledge?

[Anonymous]

I work at a DC area campus and the pay for teachers ranges from $24/hr to $30/hr but the biggest thing is instability. Teachers are often working with schedules that go from 16 hours one week to 37 the next week without much warning at all.

I adore all my students and will teach at Fusion and finish my year with my current group of kids but I've lost money working here simply to pay bills because the pay is so unstable. I was told I could make $56,000 a year because I'd be given a 40 hour work week. I have rarely been given that many hours by our registrar, despite promises, to the contrary because of student population numbers. I made less than $26,000 my first year and only just got to $30,000 this year and that's because I benefit from NOT being on their benefits plan so less money taken out of my paycheck. Teachers are overworked and do everything out of a love for the kids with no compensation. We often work 40-60 hours weeks but only get paid for what is in our database schedules which often change without our knowledge after the fact.

We also only receive 5 minutes of planning time per class. That means any planning time outside of that we do not get paid for. Five minutes to plan and grade student work and only told after two weeks how much we accrue. The great experiences you get from Fusion are because your teachers are overworked, underpaid, but truly love your kids and want them to get a good education. We are encouraged to do more work beyond our teacher score-cards because of the kids and we often do, but it takes a toll and we've lost half our staff over the year to this burnout. Corporate treats parents and students so wonderfully, but behind closed doors often care very little about teacher concerns because turnover is so high they just hire new, less experienced teachers. We love your students, we really do, but understand that your high tuition goes directly to corporate to finance opening new campuses in your region, no campus sees their own profit.

[Anonymous]

I looked into working there (because 1 to 1!) but couldn't stomach the horribly low pay. I could make more by tutoring in the evenings, since I can charge twice as much (and it'd be more reliable week to week).

The model is really cool, but I don't see how the instruction can be top notch at $25/hr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at a DC area campus and the pay for teachers ranges from $24/hr to $30/hr but the biggest thing is instability. Teachers are often working with schedules that go from 16 hours one week to 37 the next week without much warning at all.

I adore all my students and will teach at Fusion and finish my year with my current group of kids but I've lost money working here simply to pay bills because the pay is so unstable. I was told I could make $56,000 a year because I'd be given a 40 hour work week. I have rarely been given that many hours by our registrar, despite promises, to the contrary because of student population numbers. I made less than $26,000 my first year and only just got to $30,000 this year and that's because I benefit from NOT being on their benefits plan so less money taken out of my paycheck. Teachers are overworked and do everything out of a love for the kids with no compensation. We often work 40-60 hours weeks but only get paid for what is in our database schedules which often change without our knowledge after the fact.

We also only receive 5 minutes of planning time per class. That means any planning time outside of that we do not get paid for. Five minutes to plan and grade student work and only told after two weeks how much we accrue. The great experiences you get from Fusion are because your teachers are overworked, underpaid, but truly love your kids and want them to get a good education. We are encouraged to do more work beyond our teacher score-cards because of the kids and we often do, but it takes a toll and we've lost half our staff over the year to this burnout. Corporate treats parents and students so wonderfully, but behind closed doors often care very little about teacher concerns because turnover is so high they just hire new, less experienced teachers. We love your students, we really do, but understand that your high tuition goes directly to corporate to finance opening new campuses in your region, no campus sees their own profit.

This is really sad to hear. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Here's a suggestion that you may wish to consider...

I have a really bright teen with anxiety, LDs - you name it. We decided to pull her out of school last year to homeschool. It is really easy to homeschool in VA and does not mean that you the parent have to be the teacher. What we did instead was enroll her at community college as a dual enrolled student. This allows her to experience classes in a more relaxed atmosphere where she can pick the classes she wants...and it is SO MUCH CHEAPER than all of the private school options we considered. On top of it, she is getting college credit, is learning (for the first time!) how to organize her work and truly "own" her education. It may not be for everyone, but it has worked out well for us.

[Anonymous]

Wow- this info on Fusion is sad. Don’tike hearing how teachers are treated. PP- when you homeschool and enroll your DC in community college how does that work from a high school credit perspective? Guess I need to research how homeschooling works in VA.

[Anonymous]

Pretty much everything you need to know about homeschooling in VA is on this website:
https://guide.vahomeschoolers.org/getting-started-with-homeschooling/