At a high high school in Austin parents had this to day about the level of personalization. I wonder what parents and students at Manual will say...
Parents
I knew my daughter felt lost in 9th grade in such a huge school, but I didn't know who to call or what to do about it.
I'm lucky that my son has always made good grades and taken AP classes, but when it came time to get a strong letter or recommendation for college, there wasn't one teacher we could go to who really knew him well.
My son is just barely hanging in there in high school and has other social problems. I wish there was someone I could coordinate with at our high school to try to get him on another track.
Students
I got more attention and love from people at my coffee shop than I did from teachers at my school, so I dropped out.
Teachers never made eye contact with me in the hallways, called me by name, or asked how I was doing or what I thought about anything