Is it safe to leave my passport with a school while awaiting my education visa in Thailand, given my visa exemption is about to expire?

I did 3 ED visa in a row with the same school in Phuket (Patong) and they handled the whole procedure every time and took and kept my passport until I got my visa each time. Then later, I would go to the immigration with a school representative cause a visa is something personal and they need to actually see you for it.

So I would say yes, it's normal. Your ED visa has to go in your passport and that's the school that's handling the whole procedure with the immigration.after getting a letter from the ministry of education. So how would the school obtain your visa if they don't take your passport until it's done ?

The whole process between the school, the ministry of education and the immigration takes about 3 weeks.

I suppose you gave your passport to the school something like 3 weeks or more before your visa exemption expired, right? So IN THIS CASE, once the procedure is on track, you don't have to worry about your previous expiring date.

Don't hesitate to contact me back for more details, if needed.

If they say don't worry, than you really need to worry. Get your passport back and go to immigration tomorrow for an 1900 baht 30 days extension.

Legitimate schools don't keep your passport. Have you been going to classes, and not online?

You are going to be on over stay in 2 days shouldn’t have use the cheap Charlie Thai school

Visa in the system but not approved yet would mean you will be on overstay. Get your passport back and go and get the extension

There's no reason for anyone to ever have your passport. A legit school would never need your passport for more than 5 minutes to make copies. Plenty of reports of people getting told the exact same thing as you were told by agents and others, only to find out they've been on overstay for a long time and then banned from the country. You'll get in trouble, not the school.