Learn more | East Academy

For North Collinwood parents who want their child in a school that's rooted here, not just located here Your child deserves a school that knows this neighborhood, knows your child's name, and isn't going anywhere. East Academy is a tuition-free public charter school in North Collinwood, Cleveland, serving kindergarten through 8th grade. It blends structured academics with arts, restorative practices, and real community partnerships that you won't find listed on most school websites. Because most schools don't have them.

K-8 public charter school, tuition-free
Arts integration and two theatrical productions per year
Community partnerships in barbering, braiding, mentoring, and creative expression
After-school tutoring and programming for every grade
Free breakfast and lunch, every student, every day

See what enrollment looks like for your child.

Get Your Child's Enrollment Info

It takes about 60 seconds. You've done this before. You've enrolled your child somewhere, believed the promises, and watched it fall apart. Maybe the school closed. Maybe the teachers left. Maybe nobody called you back when something went wrong. North Collinwood families know what that feels like. So when you hear "this school is different," you don't believe it. You shouldn't have to believe it. You should be able to see it.

What your child's day actually looks like here

The school day runs from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Inside that window, your child isn't sitting in rows doing worksheets for eight hours. East Academy uses social-emotional learning and restorative practices alongside academics; if your child is struggling with something that isn't a math problem, there's a structure for that too. Counseling through Untamed Mentoring. Teachers trained in how to actually respond when a student is having a hard day, not just how to send them to the office.

The partnerships no one else has

This is the part that makes East Academy different from a school that just teaches subjects. Four community organizations come into this building regularly, and each one gives students something the standard curriculum doesn't. Let Art Breathe brings performance, creative expression, and arts programming. Your child gets to make things, perform, and discover what he or she is good at outside of a textbook. Queen I Am works with young women on identity, confidence, and leadership. Not a single assembly. An ongoing relationship. DRG Diamond Razor Group teaches barbering, mentorship, and entrepreneurship. Your child learns a real skill from someone who built a business with it. Braids R Us brings braiding instruction and hair care education. For students who've never seen their culture reflected in a classroom, this changes what school feels like. These partnerships exist because East Academy's principal, Ashley Hall-Green, went and found them. They're here because somebody decided that a school should prepare a child for life, not just for a test.

The arts aren't an afterthought

Drama Club. Art Club. Podcasting Club. Dance Team. Cheerleading. Two full theatrical productions every year: one for elementary students, one for middle school. Homecoming. Winter Formal. Prom. You read that right. A K-8 school with prom. This is a school where your child can discover who he or she is while learning what he or she needs to know. Those two things aren't separate here. Never were.

Athletics and clubs that give students something to belong to

Girls basketball. Boys basketball. Volleyball for both. STEM Club. Student Council. These aren't participation-trophy programs. They're teams. Your child shows up, works, competes, and belongs to something.

Everything you just read? It costs nothing.

No tuition
No fees
No cost to apply
Free breakfast and lunch for every student, every day
After-school tutoring, kindergarten through 8th grade
After-school program
Counseling through Untamed Mentoring
Transportation within a 1 to 3 mile radius

East Academy is publicly funded. Your tax dollars already pay for it. Every family in Cleveland has the right to enroll here at no cost. Your child is in school right now. Today counts. Tomorrow counts. Every semester spent in a school that doesn't see your child, doesn't challenge your child, doesn't connect your child to something bigger than a worksheet is a semester that doesn't come back.

A Neighborhood School That Actually Acts Like One