Chelsea Heights

I had planned to homeschool my boys because I couldn't imagine a school system that would nurture them as individuals even existed anymore. I was wrong. Although I was at first very apprehensive about putting my now-Kindergartener into a traditional school environment, Westchester quickly exceeded my every expectation. Even though it's only been reopened for two years after having been closed 10, it is a close-knit community and all the right things are emphasized in terms of values, from kindness and empathy to critical thinking and perseverance. This goes for all types of learners -- they seem to very much respect the individual child and their needs and don't expect to manufacture cookie cutter kids created from cookie cutter teaching. Additionally, as this is an EL school (expeditionary learning), the kids learn from real world experiences and examples as much as possible, rather than being asked to use rote memorization with no context. My child's teacher, Mrs. Mansfield, is particularly passionate about nature and the outdoors, and ensures that they spend as much time learning as possible while in natural surroundings, including subjects like writing, which they sometimes do in the outdoor classroom when weather permits. As for the staff, from the top down, everyone with whom I've had any kind of contact as been helpful and genuinely interested in my child's wellbeing. Ms Lofstrand is an outstanding administrator and I don't know how we got so lucky as to have her, but I can't imagine a better principal. From their amazing speech language pathologist, to their music teacher to "Miss Susie" at the front desk, my kiddo is surrounded by people who genuinely care, and as a parent, it's hard to ask for more than that. It does feel like a family, and I'm truly excited for my youngest to start there in 2017.