Dove Science Academy-South Elementary, Oklahoma City | Fees, Rankings, Address, Admission, Vacancies, Reviews & More

I would go with 4.5 stars, if I could. Advanced communication could be a little better – dates that are known in advance are not necessarily communicated as early as I need. But this is a new school, and I think this is a bug that will get worked out with time.

Yes, the school is strict. There is a strict dress code, and a Zero Tolerance Policy for bullying that is actually enforced! If you expect your student to be able to have colorful hair or wear trendy clothing, this is not the school for you. The dress code includes an ID badge, polo shirt with a school logo, plain black or brown belt, tan/navy/black casual pants (not jeans) – no shorts, closed toe shoes (no boots or sandals). Hair must be natural colored and out of the face – no mohawks or shaved designs, one bracelet or watch. Non-school logos are not allowed on jackets worn in the building. True, that is a strict dress code, but my kid will be going into a science / engineering field, and this sets expectations. It also eliminates a TON of arguments about what to wear, removes anxiety about choosing the right clothing, and puts the focus on education instead of fashion.

This school takes a lot of commitment from the parent! There are no buses. You must provide your own transportation to and from school every day.

There are SO many opportunities for clubs here! And the teachers (and staff – and administration) really care! After leaving a parent-teacher meeting, I felt like I wanted to hug everybody!

And, yes, my son HAS gotten a half day suspension and an after school detention. It was really inconvenient. The school corrected inappropriate behavior and we reinforced that correction at home. It was for an infraction that would have gone unnoticed at a regular public school, but they are VERY strict at enforcing their Zero Tolerance policy for no bullying.

The focus is on education here. My son has not come home with even ONE flyer to sell some useless product! One of their fundraisers is for students to pay $1 if they choose to wear jeans or a non-school shirt (still following the policy of no drugs/alcohol/guns/violence, etc on the shirt).

My son LOVES it here! He has friends, support, and his voice is heard. I strongly recommend this school – especially since the Moore Public School District has cancelled its gifted program.

Would I like to see changes? Sure! I would like a parent tutorial about how to access all of the online features. And I would like better advanced communication about dates so that we can plan our non-school schedule around school activities. But I love this school and I think that it is the best choice for my son!

The STEM part was very enforced at this school, but it was quite difficult to keep up with because of the way the teachers taught the subjects. When I was in 8th grade my teacher had a passion for teaching and I understood very clearly. He also became my 11th grade physics teacher and continued with the same passion. I didn’t take many AP courses but I heard that the science ones werent as enjoyable. However my Ap Spanish Literature class was great. My teacher explained the stories pretty well and answered my grammar questions very clearly. My 11th grade ACT prep classes were also very good experience but those were classes I had with teachers that no longer work at Dove Highschool. In my senior year I felt as if I had little guidance towards my or any college. There was a very good counselor for this but I felt as if she would only come in and not tell us seniors exactly what we should do. I understand that I might have been stressful and overwhelming for her but I felt uncared for or not prioritized. I was also given the chance to become a concurrent student at Dove. I was at first very happy and nervous for the hardworking that I would have to continue and extra work I would have to keep. During the first year in the fall of my junior year we had many misunderstandings from the administration and the students. We felt as if we were being forgotten and left in a room with a laptop all day long there were also information that I might’ve missed or just bot gotten from the administration of what degree we concurrent students were taking. My senior year definitely went a lot better because I was able to choose what class I wanted. Of course that was after I completed my core classes at OSU-OKC. Overall concurrent was quite hectic throughout the two years I did it and Dove could really learn from the two graduating classes that they had. Finally graduation. Graduation for the class of 2020 was phenomenal. It was really really good and I enjoyed it so much. I’m glad I was given this kind of graduation, it is definitely one to remember.

We had many teachers we loved, but as a whole, this school is much more interested in academic achievement than the health and wellbeing of the children. Pitifully unscientific in their approach.

Entire classes were having recess taken away in full when they were too energetic and noisy, throughout the entire school year. (This just bottled up their energy for days on end.) *No* recess during an entire school day. This happened many, many times, all the way through the year. Science says the answer should have been *more* time for the children to be active.

Lunch was also expected to be eaten silently, and if it was not – no recess. This means if your child is (sadly) entirely silent during class and lunch, recess may still be taken away from the class as a whole, affecting your child as well.

Children were playing in a field for months as the play structure was being built.

My son’s classmate was told by THE PRINCIPAL that he was “too old to be acting like this” as he cried against the wall while other classes hunted Easter eggs, but his class had no Easter plans. Some classes still had to sit against the wall for recess as other classes were allowed to hunt eggs. So many issues of disorganization that affected the children.

The special education teacher was substituting and asked my daughter’s classmate if he was a baby when he raised his hand to get out of his seat (as their teacher had taught them to do when they needed help).

The principal, Ms. Gunter, showed up late many times, and children were not allowed to enter the school to eat breakfast until she arrived, whenever that was. My children expressed multiple times that they were scared of the principal.

The list just goes on. We expected this year to be challenging after virtual school for a year, but this surpassed the challenges we expected, and quickly moved into the territory of just plain bullying children into silence. So disappointed. Our children will not attend Dove again.