254 Bennetts Farm Rd
Ridgefield, CT 06877

The school and the teachers seem to be great at first. However, as the year progresses things begin to deteriorate. Classrooms are filthy, children are forced to sit on dirty floor, teachers complain to parents instead of teaching the students properly. Fake ‘kindness’, very fake.

RHS gets good ratings because the majority of the students come from educated parents who make sure they do well. There are some great teachers who actually care and respect their students and have truly made a difference for students - so my apologies to those teachers! However, there are too many ineffective teachers who have limited knowledge of learning differences/disabilities and recognizing mental health issues. Some teachers seem overwhelmed with their own issues which impacts their abilities to teach and focus on the students needs. There is also a lot of discrepancy between teachers and grading. The biggest issue is the administration - the principal is more concerned about his job and checking all the boxes than the individual students. The school claims to be open to student and parent input but in reality only wants to hear what they are doing well. When there are issues with bullying or emotional abuse they only do what they need to legally and do not show any regard for the students impacted. They focus on looking good and saying the right things while there are many students who needs are not being met. I find it extremely frustrating when the adults working within the school are contributing to the declining mental health and stress of the students.

This is an excellent school with wonderful facilities and an outstanding faculty and administration. The curriculum is both rigorous and stimulatingly challenging. The environment that they provide is friendly and supportive - critical at the middle school level. The team and class set-up works well allowing kids to establish networks and connections with a wide group of students while also providing them with a stable and mroe familiar core group of peers. The school's foreign language programs are also great additions.