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Rock Point School
Rick Reamer and Deborah Siegel
freamer@cox.net
January 18, 2005
Our daughter enrolled at the Rock Point School
in Burlington, Vermont in the fall of 2004. She transferred
from the Hyde School in Woodstock, Connecticut. We now have
experienced two very different schools based on two very different
models.
We are delighted with Rock Point and have only positive things
to say about the school’s staff and model. The school’s dorm
staff, administrators, teachers and support staff are knowledgeable,
humane, insightful, astute, supportive, devoted, enthusiastic
and constructive in their approach to teens and their families.
Rock Point’s admissions process is extraordinarily thorough
so that the students who enroll are a good fit for the program,
enhancing the chances of success. Rock Point accurately describes
itself as a school for students who have struggled in traditional
school settings, done lots of hard work, and are “on their
way up.”
Rock Point’s small size (a maximum of 40 students, grades
9-12) facilitates the kind of nurturing environment, communication,
and supervision that so many teens need. We are overwhelmingly
impressed by the staff’s earnest, skilled and consistent attention
to each student; eagerness to learn about and appreciate each
student’s unique strengths and challenges; ability to individualize
an approach to fit each student’s academic, social, and emotional
needs; and collaborative, consistent, and honest communication
with parents.
We’re impressed with the way that Rock Point staff use effective,
research-based discipline, extending the leash and pulling
it in as needed for each student; students earn privileges
based upon their behavior and choices. The staff are always
thinking about how they can provide students with constructive
social and educational challenges, appropriate incentives,
and reasonable, fair consequences.
This was not our experience with Hyde (Woodstock). The differences
between Hyde and Rock Point School have taught us a great
deal about how important it is for parents to find the “right
fit” between school and family. In our experience, the character
education that takes place at Rock Point School is what our
daughter needed.
Copyright ©
2004, Woodbury Reports, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
(This article may not be reproduced without written approval
of the publisher.)
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