Challenger School - Summerlin

My daughter is on her second year at Challenger. She loves the school, loves her teachers, and has made many good friends. Communication is great. Scheduling something with a teacher has never been an issue for me. I have been kept well informed about everything going on with my daughter. I see my daughters teacher everyday as she works the car line. She always approaches my car if their is anything I need to be informed about.

Most importantly my daughter is thriving. She is so ahead of her peers in other schools. Challenger definitely has a no nonsense approach to teaching. But its in a fun, productive, age appropriate way. Every holiday the school goes all out. Teachers dress up in holiday themed clothing or as characters. The school is very festive/traditional. I love that my daughter is taught about what America is and stands for early on. I love all the programs the kids put on and the after school programs available to her.

Parents become well aquatinted and we attend every birthday party and spend time together socially. Which is something I did not experience while my son was growing up and in public school. Now days where children rarely play outside its nice to have such a tight nit community of parents to have play dates with.

Overall my experience has been top notch thus far with Challenger school and I would recommend it. This location in particular is right next to the police academy which gives me a sense of security for the school. Challenger isn't a good fit for every child. And I do recommend started them there in preschool. Their curriculum is a bit advanced and placement many not be what you expect. They wont displace your child. Which is a good thing. I am satisfied with the level of education my daughter is receiving and plan on keeping her at this school. :)

DEATH THREAT MADE TOWARDS MY SON AND CHALLENGER NEVER TOLD ME ABOUT IT!

I was really conflicted about writing this review, as educationally Challenger is a top notch school. My oldest went to Challenger from K to 6th grade and my youngest from pre-k to 6th grade.

However my recent interactions with Challenger's corporate office, forced me to write this review.

Last year (6th grade), a fellow classmate (herein referred to as boy) made a death threat towards my son and two of his friends. The threat was made using the Discord app. The boy was making the statements in his own Discord chatroom. Eventually the boy shared the chatroom message with another child and that's how it became known to one parent. The boy eventually also brought a pocket knife to school (I'm not sure about the timing).

Challenger contacted the boy's mom and immediately had her come to the school. They did not tell the mom what the meeting was about. They just asked her questions as she sat and could see her son was borderline in tears. Challenger asked her to come back the next day. The next day they told the mom what had happened. The boy was expelled. (Imagine the anxiety the mom felt when Challenger waited a whole day to explain what happened)

Challenger then contacted me and told me there was something written about my son on the internet. They did not tell me who wrote it or what was written. I replied, I know who wrote it, I just want to know what was written. Was it something serious? Something I should be concerned about it? I even asked the principal, as a parent wouldn't you want to know? My son could see the boy someplace and they could even agree to meet up. I need to know if my son is in danger or if there is anything else. I was told my son is safe but for privacy reasons they could not tell me what was written. I assumed it might have been some sort of racist comment or something like that.

Recently I found out from my son what was written. Needless to say, I was furious Challenger had not told me that a death threat was written about my son and two other boys. I asked my son why he didn't tell me sooner and he told me he was afraid he would in trouble. I also asked if he was afraid at the time he found out about the threat and of course he said yes. My son was 11 when he found out. I was heartbroken to find out he dealt with this alone.

I then contacted the boy's mom and told her I was not upset at her or the boy, but at how Challenger handled the situation. That's when she explained how Challenger informed her.

I then reached out to Challenger corporate to get an explanation of why I was not told about the threat. I spoke with an operations manager and an attorney. The operations manager was more understanding of my feelings. They attorney's tone however was not understanding at all and he sounded annoyed and condescending. During the discussion I asked him, "Wouldn't you want to know if a death threat was made towards your child?" His response was "that's not the issue". I even told him what my son went through alone and this attorney had no words to say. Didn't even say, I'm sorry your son went through that alone.

The conversation ended when I told him I wanted an apology and for Challenger to change their policy. Every parent has a right to know about their child. He said no and was firm in his stance.

Love the school. All the faculty members are pleasant & super friendly. My kids went for Pre 3. Challenger gave them a great foundation learning how to read and write. Both my kids loved Summerlin Challenger. Whenever I use to go pick them up they would ask me to come back later, they didn't want to leave school just yet. On the weekends they would ask if they can go to school. My kids love to learn and is always happy to go to school.

I never had a bad encounter with any of the faculty members. Rude & disrespectful parents, yes, but never with the faculty. Most parents are in a rush to drop their kids off in the morning. Some may stop and say Hi but the rest are in a rush to work etc and you can see their impatience.

My kids never had any problems at the school. The response time from the school was a couple of hours not days. The curriculum they had was advanced and my kids were challenged. Their minds were simulated and engaged in school activities. I was able to have access to everything they were doing broken down hour by hour. Having online access to their worksheets and learning tools was very helpful and helped keep me organized.

All in all we all love Challenger - it really is an advanced learning institution for young minds.

My son and I are relocating from Ohio to the Summerlin area in Las Vegas. I contacted Challenger School in Summerlin to schedule a tour of the school and to obtain more information regarding potentially enrolling my son in the 8th grade. We arrived and the headmaster Itzel Siu-Johnson lead the tour of the school.

From the onset of the tour, she was not welcoming. She lead the tour with an emphasis on the specific curriculum that was designed specifically for all Challenger schools. She discussed all grade levels and the curriculum and the way they are constructed to build upon each grade level but did not attempt to explain the academic process for transfer students who have not attended their school since Pre-School nor the eighth-grade curriculum. She was very condescending in her communication with us.

The school is not diverse, which is particularly important to me when I am looking into schools for my son as we are African American. There wasn't any representation present during our visit.

Itzel Siu-Johnson used higher intellect words to describe the various academic structure. I would add that I have my PhD and I still do not think it is necessary to use higher intellect words to the extent that she utilized throughout the full tour to communicate with us.

At the end of the tour, Challenger School in Summerlin collects a $25 fee to assess your child. Itzel Siu-Johnson completed my son's assessment. My son suffers from anxiety as well, which the assessment itself caused him a great deal of anxiety and ultimately did not test well. In Ohio, he is in one of the top school districts and in honors courses. When I met with Itzel Siu- Johnson she told me he tested well below, based on their curriculum, and proceeded to be even more condescending making statements such as my son could attend "Las Vegas public schools which ranks 50th in all school districts and be placed in remedial classes or even be classified as an honors student based on their standards"

My recommendations to parents looking into Challenger School are: 1) if your child does not start at Challenger schools from Pre-school or early elementary, do not waste your time. The curriculum is only designed for children who are learners from Pre-school and beyond 2) If your child suffers from anxiety do not attempt to place your child in this school. They do not care about your child's mental health wellbeing and how it may affect their educational development. Their only focus is the children academically succeeding but not their mental health. As a mental health professional, this is not a good environment to support your child through their vital years of development. 3) If you are looking for diversity this is not the school.

After the tour and assessment, my son is still impacted by the way he was treated.

Later in the same day we toured another private school in the Summerlin area and were treated with the utmost respect. Their program and the academic program were remarkably diverse and offered various areas of focus to encourage your child to grow personally, socially, and academically in a supportive, understanding, and kind environment. They even focused on the students' personal and mental wellbeing along with a top-rated academic program. We decided on my son attending this private school.

Challenger School in Summerlin was not a pleasant experience and I would not recommend any children transferring from another state to tour this school. Their curriculum is only designed for Challenger Schools and does not align with other strategies for teaching.

I am so happy with this school, my child is learning a lot, this is my best decision.

Preschool was valuable for my son but after that it becomes very clear the administration is incompetent in educating and working with growing children. It may be fine if you're trying to raise a brainwashed child but for intelligent children who like to question why things are done this is not the place for them.

If I could give negative 0 stars I would. My son started going to this school when he turned 2 years and 9 months. I withdrew him at 4 1/2 years old and hope that he can recover from what he went through. First, I must say that most of the teachers are moms who want free tuition for their kids. Most of them are not even college educated or certified teachers. They definitely can't and won't handle much and call the front desk at every whim to just get a normal 4 year old who is tired of sitting out of their classroom. I had to pick my son up numerous times in the middle of the day because they couldn't handle a 4 year old. I have two older boys who went to preschool on the east coast and never have I had to pick them up for anything and I was paying double for Challenger. The classrooms are overloaded with kids (23 kids in a preschool class). The administration is HORRIBLE!!! Every time I would have to pick my son up in the middle of the day, Miss Vanda would look at him as if there is something seriously wrong with him. When I came in to observe him in class, I would give suggestions and she would disregard them. The way she spoke to my son one to one made me cringe. As if she was a high lieutenant in the military talking to a soldier. Unfortunately I also had to endure a few conversations with Miss Johnson as well. All she knows how to do is talk down to the parents and tell them all that they are doing wrong and teach them how to raise their kids. The last conversation I had with her, she told me "I am not telling you to not bring your son to school tomorrow but take all the time you need to get this right before you bring him back to school because if he misbehaves again we will have to unenroll him". That surely made me feel really good. My son never did anything "bad". He just had a hard time sitting still for long periods of time since he is only 4. This school has completely stripped my son of his confidence and self esteem and I pray that it will be restored in time. I regret that I ever had my son enrolled in Challenger and I would think long and hard if I were you before you enroll your child here. They strip the children of their childhood completely!!

On May 24th 2021, it was the preschool Spring Showcase and was invited to attend as a guest. The kids from Room 313 under Miss Christa and Wendy gave a delightful performance.
They had to memorize 10 short performances starting with What is more America -reminding us what makes us American through Its a Small World after all.
The fascinating and surprise was when each kid announce which original country they were from. Of the 30+ students at least 15 countries were mentioned thereby, proving the USA is really a melting pot.
The program was very inclusive and covered a slew of other Mexican Hat dance, Sho Jo Ji to Blending Polka. The kids were all excited to show off what they learnt during covid and of the course the loudest applause was from parents n guests.
I dont have any children attending Challenger Summerlin however listening to this performance, the kids are learning at higher level compared to public school. The kids come across being happy and lots of smiles so this environment is very conducive to their education as well as personal growth.
Thank Miss Christa and Wendy for all your teaching, caring, guidance to these precious kids.
Enjoyed the Spring Showcase and hope this tradition will continue.
It was brilliant marketing and promotion when the last performance was when the kids listed all the fun and good programs where they proudly claimed - Challenger, That's My School !!!

We brought our son to this school, mid-session, after a severely disappointing experience at Springstone Montessori. It has been about a month now, and he is absolutely flourishing.

Our son has only ever been in a Montessori environment, and I was worried about the change- our son has taken to the academic approach better than we ever could have hoped.

He absolutely loves going here. We had screaming/crying drop-offs at Montessori, along with occasional acting out, etc. At Challenger, we drop him off and he is EAGER to go to class. When we pick him up, he doesn't want to leave- even if it's a late day!

He is also learning soooo much, and the level of material they are covering, has him at a level of engagement he simply was not achieving at Montessori. In fact, before we left, his teacher had told me, he would often wander off during circle time. That does not happen here, and I think it's because he needed to be challenged with a higher level of academics and high volume of curriculum each day.

We are very pleased with what we have seen, and while it has taken some adapting to.. the adaptation has mostly been on the parent-side rather than our son's. :)

I will say, this place definitely TEACHES. :-) In a good way!

My son was suppose to go to Kindergarten for Public School as he had previously attended Children's Learning Adventure. This school said he didn't pass his assessment test to attend Kindergarten so he had to repeat Pre-Kindergarten. I was at first a little upset because he had to repeat the year and felt like he wasn't good enough. They assured me that he would be learning what typical kindergarten classes would learn and if not, more. So, I decided to enroll both my 5 year old son and my 3 year old daughter. (Pre-K 3's Preschool for daughter)

Soon enough, I saw a huge difference with my son since he's repeating a year the difference at Challenger Pre-K vs. a Regular Day Care Pre-K (Children's Learning Adventure was where he attended since he was a baby) Quickly he learned how to READ & write 3-4 letter words. My daughter at 3, within a few months also knows all her alphabets.

They also LOVE to come to school and enjoy it so much more than their previous school.
I
I'm very satisfied!!

** UPDATE June 19, 2017: Both Kids are in Challenger still. Son will be going into 1st Grade and my daughter will be going to Kindergarten. My son now is learning addition, subtraction, and we love the progress he's making! He's not complaining and they are both want to keep coming back!