Counseling and Support
We maintain robust counseling and support teams and are proud that our student community represents a very broad range of learning profiles. We believe it is our responsibility to provide students with the services or accommodations they need to be able to access the curriculum and make effective personal progress. This constellation of faculty members includes a school psychologist, a school social worker/counselor, and multiple learning specialists, who work directly with classroom teachers to craft and fine tune the scaffolding each student needs to thrive. Each campus boasts a centrally located Learning Center furnished with workstations, adaptive furniture and sensory equipment.
Schechter partners closely with public schools and Gateways: Access to Jewish Education, which works to meet the wide range of students’ learning needs. Gateways provides specialized services above and beyond—and in coordination with—the school’s existing support services. Their staff includes occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and learning, reading, and behavioral specialists—who work with students in and out of the classroom, partner with and support classroom teachers, and meet regularly with our support staff and parents. Gateways consults with administration and staff to meet the schools’ inclusion goals and offers consultation, training and programming to students, teachers and parents in the areas of mental health, disability awareness and topics in special education.
For families whose students qualify for an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Section 504 Accommodation Plan, Schechter crafts an Individualized Learning Plan. Through these collaborations, we are able to coordinate Occupational Therapy (OT) and Speech and Language services. Counselors also run student groups on both campuses to help students with healthy relationships, and social and emotional development.
Each student’s week includes a What I Need (WIN) period that cuts across all areas of the curriculum. The WIN block is designed as a consistently scheduled time during which faculty members are able to offer students more practice in subject areas or units, extensions for enrichment, and opportunities to partner with students in different grade-level class sections.
We ask that prospective families share their child’s IEP, 504 Plan and recent testing results (or relevant documentation) with members of our Office of Admission, so that we can include appropriate members of our support team, and get to know your family comprehensively during the admission process.