LEAP Academy University Charter School

Posted: January 23, 2025

I like my schedule and it’s just a normal school and I meet good friends there

Posted: January 23, 2025

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Posted: June 3, 2024

this school is SO strict they blame my kids for STUFF THEY DID NOT DO they don't BELIEVE WHAT MY KIDS SAY ONE OF my kid had an F- in one class but she had time to bring her grade up so once she Finnish all her makeup work still hAVE NOT MOVE HER GRADE UP ATLEAST TO AN D-C THE TEACHER ALWAYS THINK SHE START STUFF BUT THE KIDS DO THIS SCHOOL SHOULD GET SHUT DOWN

Posted: June 3, 2024

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Posted: April 25, 2024

Although there are always room for improvements, the direction the school district is taking is going to showcase the benefits of the school and also the ability to attract and meet the needs of current and new students.

Posted: April 25, 2024

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Posted: June 24, 2023

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Posted: June 24, 2023

This school is miss guided when engaging with the children and parents they are in full compliance with passing kids whom academics and ability to go to the next grade level is not there, Leap academy in our opinion is about reputation instead of education first.

Posted: June 24, 2023

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Posted: March 31, 2023

LEAP is a great school that offers students many opportunities and a ton of resources. The parent engagement unit is one of the strongest I have seen, and the current admin team is very strong and are really trying to move the school into a positive direction. There are many dedicated teachers that go above and beyond. The early college program is impressive and truly an amazing opportunity for students to earn free college credits--graduating high school with over 30 college credits.

Posted: March 31, 2023

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Posted: September 13, 2021

This school is terrible. You think b/c it’s funded by a big name university it would have more structure. The classrooms are very nice and the technology is up to date, but everything else is terrible. Administration is unorganized. Some days my child didn’t read. There were days that my child learned only two subjects in class. Teachers have no instructional control. Children are disruptive, cursing and fighting. Homework was never given. Don’t let the nice uniforms and school buildings fool you. The school is terrible. Too many red flags caused me to remove my child.

Posted: September 13, 2021

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Posted: April 22, 2019

Students are given homework daily. The homework is a natural outgrowth of learning. The homework consists of practice to retained learned material, make up work due to illness and prep work for the upcoming lessons or skills.

Posted: April 22, 2019

Our teachers are provided with ongoing target PD. Tenures go through a strenuous tenure process and those that reach this goal can be further rewared with a financial bonus or consideration for promotion.

Posted: April 22, 2019

Posted: April 22, 2019

Our leadership cares about kids. Care is shown in the non stop effort to ensure quality education for our students and development for our teachers.

Posted: April 22, 2019

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Posted: April 22, 2019

So far it has been good. This is a school with true vision. LEAP Academy is not afraid to think outside of the box and push the envelope to provide high quality experiences and learning for our students. They want the kids to have more and will not settle for status quo!

Posted: April 13, 2019

The MOST dysfunctional institution I’ve ever seen.

Posted: April 13, 2019

Teachers are committed to students despite being in a school that doesn’t support them.

Posted: April 13, 2019

Students are not held to any standard other than what their teachers are able to create for them. Students needs are not met by the school, special needs are ignored, dangerous behaviors.. even violent students are ignored.

Posted: April 13, 2019

Many administrators don’t even have the proper credentials to be in the position they are in. For example, giving some position of “ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL” allows the school to not hire an actual vice principal, so the person has no credentials to be in that position yet the state overlooks it.

Posted: April 13, 2019

Students in desperate need of IEPs are not given one because the school likes to save their resources. Students who are classified are not given support because the special ed teachers are pulled daily to substitute for other classes.

Posted: April 13, 2019

Bullying is ignored by admin on a daily basis.

Posted: May 23, 2016

Please check the facts before sending your child here. They claim to give every student a laptop, that's not true. Classrooms barely have a working desktop. Students run around the lower school screaming and yelling. When a teacher is out they split the kids up and give them a packet. Admin is not qualified to run a doggie day care let alone take care of children and educate them!

Posted: April 3, 2015

I've been a LEAP student since 8th grade, this school has taught me a lot. I studied at various schools in the Camden district and Leap is honestly the best one. The teachers are caring and understanding they build relationships with their students. I'm one of the top students in my grade (10th) thanks to LEAP I've been able to maintain a straight A report card. The only problem i have with this school is the false advertisement, Dr. Santiago is the founder of LEAP but she doesn't give recognition to the teachers or even knows a students name. She only visits the school when there are visitors and money involved, i believe she ars more about publicity then the education of LEAP students.

Posted: March 15, 2015

As a former staff member who worked at LEAP for a little over two years, I would say the strongest aspect of this school is that it is a safe environment. However, the education as well as the organization of the school is very poor. For almost half a marking period, many classes did not have teachers or even adult supervision. Unqualified substitutes with no curriculum were used to fill in for these classes until a qualified teacher was hired, which many parents were not made aware of. Lack of organization is the reason why behind the fa ade the school portrays on television is chaos. Unfortunately the individuals who suffer the most in reference to the future are the students.

Posted: June 3, 2014

Leap is a great school I'd recommend it to any student from pre -k to 12th grade

Posted: May 31, 2014

Honestly, I wish I had listened to my gut prior to my daughter going here. She had had so much misery as a student of LEAP. I really thought that since the school had good test results that meant it was a good school. Any educated parent won't fall for their hype. There is no discipline there and the kids know that the teachers can't manage the class. There are some classes of 25-27 kids all acting up at once. Our child will not be returning next year. What a chop job they do here. Ask what the average SAT score is. You may be surprised! All I know is we as parents deserve a better school for our kids.

Posted: May 12, 2014

This school is operating on its past reputation. There is so much bullying in there and the staff and teachers do NOTHING to help the victim. Mostly it is done by girls treating other girls very poorly. Sadly the administration cares very little as long as the y can continue to say college acceptance (most do not even go or finish college).

Posted: February 24, 2014

Leap Academy. I run an after school tutoring program and over the years many of the students were from Leap Academy. Our tutors are professional teachers from other school districts and we have found that none of the kids are at grade level. We have Rutger's future scholars in our program and they cannot do simple mathematical problems. They can read, but many do not comprehend. Several of our students were in the high school Honor's Program. The work they were doing was work that suburban kids were doing in 7th and 8th grade. We feel they are teaching to the lowest common denominator. We want the children to be able compete in a technologically advanced society and unfortunately we do not feel that the kids are adequately prepared for college.

Posted: March 9, 2013

As a former employee I saw first hand how disorganized this school is. Constant Administrative turnover, new teachers that can't cope with inner city situations causes constant turnover in teaching staff. In this school year alone they have had four business administrators. Yes this school is safer than Camden public schools. But the students in the High School run wild, no respect for the principal or any other adult, constant disruption from unruly students. The worse part is that the unruly students suffer no consequences. No matter who they curse at, push or back talk to, they are allowed to continue to do so. The current principal at the HIgh School is weak and does not have control of his school. Now we find out that the Chef of the school is paid $95K a year. The Board President has admitted the Chef is her live in boyfriend. So instead of using that money towards curriculum, she uses it to pad the income of her own home. Many other highly paid positions have a direct link to the board president. it's safer than Camden's public schools. it is a better alternative than Camden CIty, but it does not deserve the accolades that it receives. it still lags behind suburban schools.

Posted: May 21, 2012

I am a student at LEAP , I have been attending this school since kindergarten. So this is all I know. This school could be disorganized, crazy sometimes, and all other things, but I could honestly say I feel safe here than I would in any other school. The kids are out of contol but that is thier parents fault. You come to school to learn and not play around and do other things. Administration needs to take disipline more seriously and stop sending kids home bc you're 3 mins late to school. So much for education huh? but this school has its bad and good things maybe just like any other school i would assume

Posted: May 20, 2012

As a former student, I can honestly say that the school is a joke, an ongoing joke accepted by the same gullible audience who always fall for Gloria Santiago's vision of a brighter future for Camden city students--a vision I would give her accolades for but not for the way it's presented. With immodest candor, I will say that the school is terrible! The students are OUT OF CONTROLl, the education is watered down, the parents practically rule the administration, and lastly, the order is broken. I can recall my eight grade year where literally 5/7 of my teachers gradually either quit or were fired, leaving about 60 students without teachers and frankly an education for several months! True story; I'm sure the records WILL prove that. 100% college placement? Some of these students know nothing about the college application process and had the pre-college office "do it for them." Almost everyone ended up in Camden County College, and later droped. LEAP is just more sophisticated on the outside than Camden High, the worst school in the city/state! Teachers would agree; they are just adhering to their professionality. Gloria can keep putting on dog shows but her plan will not get far.

Posted: March 27, 2012

LEAP Academy is an excellent school! Schools can not do it a lone - it takes good parenting and wonderful families to educate and prepare a youngster for college and life. The partnership that LEAP provides for students and parents is non parallel - caring and quality teachers as well as very dedicated administrative personnel. You ripe what you sow - LEAP is RIPPING now a days from all the hard work that the Camden community & families have sowed. Every year there are young men and women graduating from College with great degrees who attended LEAP Academy! I am a proud grandmother of two wonderful LEAP students - grades 7th & Kinder.

Posted: March 25, 2012

I Cannot Believe The Review I have just read submitted by one of our own teachers, I CHALLENGE your comments. LEAP Academy has been a light in a City with so many challenges and it s the stereotypical ignorant mindset and comments posted by a so called LEAP teacher that LEAP students have to continue to fight against. By your comments posted it sounds like you should rethink your job as a teacher, it s easy to blame the children but where is your accountability in becoming part of the solution not another stumbling block. For those of you reading and want to know what LEAP is really about check out the LEAP website where there are a number of stories of LEAP student achievements. Some of the most recent: A student getting into Cornell or the six STEM students placing at the Coriell Science Fair two weeks ago or how about the Student who is receiving a full ride to DePaul University. WOW-I wonder if this sounds like students who can't write or speak proper english. These are just a few of the most recent achievements. If you don t want to be a part of the successes don t stick around to become part of the problem.

Posted: March 25, 2012

I'm a parent of a child at Leap and the comments that were made by the negative people that visited this cite touch me personally. I send my child to school to be nurtured taught about life and its advantages, not to be sterotyped and degrated by someone who evidently teaches for a paycheck and not the students in their care. Leap gives kids a chance that normally wouldn't have one. It is frightening to know that someone that may teach my child thinks like this about the students at Leap

Posted: March 25, 2012

Student: I am a student at Leap an I love the school. I feel safe and protected. Leap is like a second home to me. Hope Leap stays open forever.

Posted: March 21, 2012

this place is the ultimate joke school! If I could give negative stars I would. I hope that the Rowan-Rutgers merger will shut down this waste of taxpayers money. The academic integrity of this school is horrible and Jobs seem to be created to help out friends of the board members. This school is probably better than others in Camden, but I feel sorry for anyone who has to be there! The convicts are running the show in this place! The student behavior is just outrageous!

Posted: November 13, 2010

The children (7th-12th) have absolutely no manners or concept of acceptable behavior because it is not taught at home. Children sit in class daily texting their PARENT or another student and when you try to take the phone away you are lucky to not get cussed out. The vast majority cannot write a sentence with a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, or adverb because broken English is spoken all day long so the kids write the way they speak. The kids NEVER come to class prepared to work and by that meaning you have a textbook, pencil, pen, and paper to write on so one is able to learn. The amount of eye-rolling, teeth sucking, cussing, talking under one's breath, stomping, screaming "OH MY GOD" by the students when you tell them to sit down, be quiet, stop talking, put your blazer on, put the phone away, or put the iPod away is not only unacceptable but unbelievable. The blame for such disregard for authority can be spread to the parent/home, student, and school officials for not having a single backbone to put their feet down and enforce the rules.