Faith West Academy, Katy | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

Please heed the bad reviews – prejudice, favoritism, and hypocrisy run rampant here. Sit back and grab a snack; it’s story-time.

I graduated from FWA in 2015. Their policy had /always/ been that if two students have the exact same GPA, then the title of valedictorian goes to whoever had the higher class averages throughout their 4 years of high school. This happened to me; I tied GPAs with someone, but I most definitely had the higher class averages (the fact that she had two more 5.0 classes to boost her GPA alone proves that). I get called down to the office one month before graduating and am told that, after changing my fine arts credits to P/F, I was valedictorian after all! I was over the moon. The next day, I get called back down to the office – “well, actually, despite established policy, Mrs. so-and-so wants you guys to be co-valedictorians, and if you have an issue with that, then we’re going to have to take into account other things like extracurricular activities, absences, etc., in which case you may end up being salutatorian instead” (they specifically mentioned those things knowing that she had less absences and more extracurriculars than me).

So, you may ask, why would administration tell a child they’re indubitably valedictorian one day but then coerce them into being co-valedictorian the next? Well, her mother had already been a teacher there for a number of years, and both her daughters had attended the school for a number of years, so they were a family-favorite. They had immediately went down to the office upon finding out she wouldn’t be valedictorian after all, and I’m willing to bet good money that she threatened to leave the school if her daughter was made salutatorian. At the time, I tried to make myself okay with the situation by reminding myself that I’d still reap the benefits that come with being valedictorian – people’s comments of “we know who the real valedictorian is” were also pretty placating. However, looking back at it years later, I wish I had fought harder for myself. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the whole thing. I felt particularly hurt because I had actually liked that teacher and thought the girl was really sweet, but this incident showed their true colors as well as the true colors of the administration.

I regret not taking action against FWA, and it’s obviously far too late to do anything now, but I realized recently that there is value in sharing my experience with parents that are considering this school. If FWA did this to me, someone who was a model student, then they can do it to your children too (unless you’re wealthy, white, conservative, religious, and a regular donor, then you’re guaranteed to be in their select group of favorites). The negative comments pertaining to their focus on athletics, uncertified teachers, and archaic technology/curriculum were true during my experience. I would also add that although cliques are prevalent in all schools, due to the smaller student body size (my graduating class was ~34 students), the exclusivity was far more noticeable and felt to a greater extent.

In the interest of fairness, I will address my positive takeaways. A few teachers really did know what they were doing and more than adequately prepared us for college courses (Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Reed, and Mrs. Bickerstaff come to mind, very excellent). Not all of the administrators, parents, and students were two-faced; there were some genuinely kind, good-hearted Christians. Administration created a nice lounge for only seniors to relax and study in, and they allowed us little freedoms, like wearing jeans instead of standard uniform bottoms on Fridays and driving off premises during lunchtime to get food elsewhere. Our senior trip to Costa Rica was pretty sweet, and I look back on our experiences there with great fondness. I met a few lovely individuals that I’m still friends with to this day who I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Nevertheless, when I look back on my experience at FWA, I feel that the negatives considerably outweighed the positives.

~The End~

We came to Faith West in 2007 with our 5th, 2nd and Kinder daughters. Our oldest just graduated last year and my younger two are still there. I cannot express in words the love I have for the school, faculty and staff at Faith West. I have seen first hand the excellent education that my children received compared to the KISD system. My sister’s children were in the same grades in KISD and were far behind what my kids were learning at FW, she moved her three kids to FW in 2009 and have been there ever since. My freshman college student says that she felt well prepared for college compared to her two roommates who went to public school and are overwhelmed with the amount of work they are facing. In the 8 years we have been at FW there have obviously been issues arise that need to be addressed. I have found that every interaction is opened with prayer and a concern for the best possible outcome for the student. My experience at Faith West has been phenomenal and I recommend it to anyone looking for an exceptional education and environment for their child.

They are not academically advanced ( not even on most public school levels) and not all of their lead teachers are certified. They do absolutely nothing about bullying! I expect more from a school I am paying for my child to attend, and that says they are founded on the principles of Christ- a Christian school.To say they have flaws “just like public school” is unacceptable. All schools have flaws, it’s how you handle those flaws that set you apart from the others, and they handle their flaws with apathy at best. They put athletics/athletes (football and cheering) above everything else. They espouse Christian teaching, ethics, and belief, but it does not bare fruit once you are a part of the school; it saddens us to say this, but it seems only money is the root of their school. From our own experience we do not recommend this school. This is NOT a private school caliber education. Save your $, you’ll get pretty much the same atmosphere in a public school, and a better education.