Children Thrive and Are Happy in Mask-Free Florida School Centner Academy

Centner Academy in Miami, FL has taken a stand against the masking of our children! Watch their video to hear first-hand reports from parents whose children suffered by wearing masks and how moving their children to Centner Academy has been life changing! Hear CEO and founder Leila Centner detail how children new to the school opened up and thrived once they no longer had to wear a mask. We must end child masking!

Centner Academy is accepting students!

Centner Academy is a progressive, independent ‘happiness’ school that combines a deep commitment to emotional intelligence, mindfulness, and happiness with a challenging curriculum featuring language immersion, entrepreneurial thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration. Using a strengths-based approach to learning, all Centner Academy students and teachers have opportunities to do what they love across the curriculum through project- and problem-based learning. Centner Academy’s mission is to promote:

• Happy, thriving students
• Rigorous curriculum that engages students
• Mindfulness and emotional intelligence
• Effective foreign language acquisition
• Project- and problem-based learning
• Entrepreneurial thinking
• Personalized learning journeys
• Habits to optimize neurodevelopment

Centner Academy’s curriculum philosophy was developed by a team of seasoned educators to meet the needs and expectations of globally minded families. Their intention is to shape future adults who are not only confident and poised to succeed, but who also have the character and skills needed to make the world a better, kinder, and more loving place for all.

If you know any teachers, specifically 4th and 5th grade (but they’ll take all resumes), reach out to [email protected]. Tell them Larry sent you!

Video Transcript

Alex:
When our kids were in a local public school, and we realized that these face masking measures were being implemented, we quickly realized that they were not appropriate for our children.

Dida:
And in the middle of a pandemic, there was no other option for her to be able to breathe fresh oxygen. All the schools were forcing masks and I didn’t feel right about it. I didn’t feel that it was the right thing.

Alex:
We understood as parents that collateral impact, psychological, emotional, instilling a general sense of fear amongst our children was not the right environment for our kids.

Dida:
I was in a situation where I was forced to look for a kindergarten for my daughter, and even private schools were forcing masks. And a friend of mine who has her two boys here recommended Centner Academy. And she called me and told me about the school. My name is Dida, and I’m the parent of a kindergartner. When I came to tour the school, I had tears in my eyes because the children were smiling. They were happy, and they were just happy to be in school. And you could see their smiles. You could see their smiles and just the ability to breathe fresh oxygen. And I’ve seen children with rashes on their face and more shy, less outgoing to raise their hand and ask questions, very timid. And they can’t see their teacher’s smiles. When their teacher is giving them a smile or instruction, they can’t see that. And it’s very sad to me. It was very sad to me. Since she started coming to school here, I’ve noticed her more free, feeling more free, more expressive with herself, and more comfortable with herself. She loves school, which is a really beautiful thing. And I was so grateful and blessed to have found this amazing school for my daughter. I can’t say enough, it’s been a true blessing.

Alex:
My name is Alex, and I’d just like to share my experience with the pandemic COVID protocols and particularly face mask requirements in school. So we had our three children, one in second grade and two in kindergarten, in a local public school, and we quickly realized that these COVID protocol measures that were being implemented were not right for our children. We quickly made a decision to withdraw them from the public school system. And we homeschooled them for about a year. After that, we started homeschooling them. And after several months we realized that this was going to be a long-term issue, and we needed a solution for our children’s education and for their social wellbeing. So we started searching for the right school that would not require these sort of interventions and that would provide a true safe environment for our kids and one that didn’t instill fear, but rather instilled social wellbeing, happiness, et cetera.

We start searching for a school, and it’s hard. This May, there wasn’t very many options or any options that we could find. And luckily, one of our family members who works at Centner Academy brought the school to our attention, and we quickly looked through their website and saw the school’s core values, the philosophy that the school follows. And it was a very important moment for me and my wife, because we realized we had likely found the exact solution we needed for our children. Since the kids started at Centner Academy, I mean, the change has been very quick and impactful. They’re extremely happy at the school. When we were homeschooling them, they weren’t socializing with many kids, as you can imagine. And here, the social environment is just very good for the kids, and it shows when they come home. They tell us about their friends, about healthy eating, about mindfulness, meditation. They’re actually coming home and teaching us about all these things they’re learning at school. So we’re extremely happy with the experience here. And we plan on keeping them here forever.

Leila Centner:
I’m Leila Centner, the CEO and founder of Centner Academy. I’ve seen firsthand the detrimental impact on children who wear a mask for eight hours a day. Back in September 2020, when we had more kids at our school wearing masks, I would see the kids that were wearing a mask for eight hours a day. They were socially disconnected from their peers. I would see that they would come downstairs with headaches, dizziness, nauseousness because of the mask. And when I would call the parents and say, “Listen, send your child to school the next day without a mask and see if you can see a difference,” a hundred percent of the time the kids would feel better. So these masks not only have a psychological impact, but they absolutely have a physical impact. I mean, think about it. We were created to breathe fresh oxygen and exhale the waste, and with a mask on our face all day that’s gathering bacteria and all these other gross things, we’re not able to exhale the toxins. They’re staying in our mouth all day long. And I was able to see firsthand the impact in that.

As far as some of the kids that were outside of our school trying to come in, we do this thing called shadow days, where kids get to spend a day with us, so that way we can evaluate the child and the child can evaluate our school. Well, I have a very personal story which we witnessed firsthand of a sweet little five-year-old girl who came in with a mask on. Her mom had a mask on. And we all knew immediately that this might not be a good fit for the child. Anyway, they started the class at 9:00 AM and the kid was in a class in kindergarten around all the other kids who were not wearing a mask. These other kids were hugging each other. They were laughing. They were playing. And she had a panic attack. And within 30 minutes, we actually had to call the parents and ask the parents to come back and pick up their daughter because she couldn’t handle it. So parents don’t realize the long-term damage that this is having. When a child has a mask on for eight hours a day, they really think the world is a threat to them.

I have two girls at my school, six and three, and I can’t imagine a world where they were not able to see their friends’ faces, where they’re not able to see their teacher’s smile, where they’re not able to smile at their friends. So I’m very, very happy and blessed that they are allowed to be in this school where they can see each other’s smiles, because my children have never worn a mask, not one day. And I really, really feel blessed to be able to give this opportunity, not just to my girls, but to all the kids at my school. What we teach our kids is there’s nothing to be afraid of. It is okay. You are healthy. Our kids work out five days a week. We focus on their immune system. They eat sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free. So we focus on strengthening their immune system. We don’t let them live in fear. We don’t talk about the virus at school. Creates this set of sense of, “Oh my God, something is going to get me.” And that’s what schools are doing to kids.

We had another parent who had a sixth grader who was going to another school nearby, and this family came to our school and basically said, “We’re losing our child. Our child is suicidal. Our child is not the same kid. We cannot send our child back to that school again.” So they actually started in the middle of last year. And at the end of the last year, the parents came in, they had a meeting with me. They gave me a big hug and they were in tears. And they said, “Your school saved my child’s life. My child is back to normal again. My child is back to being that sweet, loving, happy boy that he was before.” And it’s a blessing that we’re able to provide this, but all the other schools out there should absolutely stand up for their kids. Our philosophy at Centner Academy is freedom. It’s very simple. We believe in love and connection. Our kids are constantly running around, hugging their friends. They’re always running around, jumping on each other’s backs. They ask the teachers for hugs. I mean, they need that connection, so to force a child to be six feet apart is inhumane.

It’s very frustrating for me to see so many parents that are allowing this to happen and not speaking up. Our children need us to speak up for them. We’re their voice. As parents, I recommend everybody band together in big groups, go to your school board, go to the school owners and say, “No, we will not allow you to mask our kid.” And in the meantime, I know it’s difficult, but find a local pod, find a local group where you can come together. And you can recruit a teacher. You can even co-teach as parents. Do anything you can to pull your kids out of this tyranny that they’re experiencing in school. Our school is based in Miami, Florida. Right now, we go from two years old to eighth grade, but next year we’re going to be opening high school. So we’re here. We’re open. We’re accepting students. We’re accepting students in the middle of the year. So we welcome anyone. You can follow us on our Instagram, which is @CentnerAcademy. That’s C-E-N-T-N-E-R academy. And you can also find us on our website, which is CentnerAcademy.com. Together, united, we can make a change.