Drew (Charles) College Preparatory Academy

I absolutely love working at Dr. Charles Drew. I have been there for several years and it is an absolute joy. The children at Drew are at the center of everything. Some of the children come from dismal backgrounds, but the school creates magic for them on daily basis. The school is very in tune to the cultural needs of the students and we make no apology in serving the needs of the students. Equity is at the center of everything done at Dr. Drew!!!

It is a challenging and unpleasant workplace. Most students had home issues; calling social services was common. One on campus social worker could not support all the students in need. The unenclosed classrooms created constant chaos; disruptive hallway conflicts, classroom noises, and thrown objects over the walls were constant. A security guard assisted with extreme student behaviors. Teachers were expected to have students remain seated and quiet at all times, whereas good teaching encourages student talk and allows for student movement. Students had to walk on the right side of a line drawn down the hallway with hands behind their backs in total silence. At lunch, students were not allowed to talk or they were removed from the lunchroom. I felt that we were either preparing students for the military or prison. I am dedicated to working at low-income schools, but could only survive teaching here for one year. Half the teaching staff left when I did; there was simply not enough support considering the challenges and the philosophical differences were too great. I felt that I could not stay given the circumstances nor could I change the way things were, so I had to leave.

I have been tutoring at Charles Drew Preparatory for the past 5 years, and watched this school continue to grow and work hard at improving it's programs. The teachers, Ms. Scott and Ms. Rice-Mitchell keep the kids in line with an iron hand in a velvet glove. Sure, it's difficult to watch over the large number of children, but they do it well, and you can tell that they know and care about their students.

I'm sick of this school they have no control over the kids the boys be hitting on my daughter all the time, i had problems with the school bus not wanting to pick up my daughter at the assign bus stop I'm looking into tranfering my daughter to another school