Savannah Arts Academy

On 09/21/2008 12:00PM R said:

SAA is an anomoly...

...among public schools in Savannah. Our kids went to good private schools for grades 1-8, but the daughter (who was going through a goth stage) wanted to get out of that ‘oppressive’ environment. She says the degree of academic difficulty is about the same as at her old private school. The teachers tend to be very good. I think several have won ‘teacher of the year’-type awards.

SAA is hard to get into. Students must audition. It’s all about the arts, but they do offer AP classes in math and science. They have a few sports, hockey, track, volleyball, tennis, but no football or basketball.
“Wrestling is huge,” she says. She also says the students are not cliqueish, and there has never been a fight.

Many native Savannahians like the place because it’s housed in the old Savannah High School building where they attended. This school is located in the middle of Ardsley Park which reminds me of some of the bohemian neighborhoods that surround Piedmont Park in Atlanta.

The school was a near-utopia until about two years ago when the school board began tinkering around the edges. Things the board did that have not been for the better: 1)increased bureaucracy, 2)instituted a dress code(probably my daughter’s fault) 3)drove away the really good dean of fine arts that led the kids on great spring break trips* 4)started the school year a couple of weeks later, after Labor day, which gives the kids less time to prepare for the AP and SAT exams.

But it’s still a great school—just not as great as it could be.

*The last trip was to Mexico (6/7ths Tenochtitlan, 1/7th Cancun). The trip before that was to Italy and Croatia. (Sheesh! In my day, ‘spring break’ meant Tybee.)