My Nonprofit Reviews

I have been associated with the Adirondack School for about 5 years, first as a parent volunteer, and, for the past three years, as a board member. My personal story: My daughter did fairly well in public school until middle school. She attended summer programs through a Johns Hopkins program called the Center for Talented Youth two summers in a row. Then she went to eighth grade and failed. She failed because she hated going to school because of all the "stuff" that comes with the pre-teen to teenage years. My wife had been advocating for a year to check out private schools. I resisted at first, but after the failure, I agreed. We checked out a couple schools in the area, but decided they wouldn't work. Then, we checked out The Adirondack School. We spoke with Marlene Bissell, who asked us questins about our daughter, and, after a few answers, started to tell us about our child, whom she had never met. We were amazed. Marlene agreed that our daughter might be a good candidate for the school, and said the next step would be for her to attend a day there. At that point, her failure in eigth grade was guaranteed, so we sent her to TAS for a day. She came out of that day saying, "I have to go to this school." Marlene has moved on, but is still a friend of the school. The folks who run TAS genuinely care about the students, most of whom just don't fit the public school mold. Most of the kids are genuinely brilliant, but can't function in the public school environment. The teachers are amazing. As for my daughter, she graduated last June, and is now a Freshman in college. I'm not sure she would have made it without the Adirondack School.

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