Re: Student with mild aspergers looking for high school

Orinda Academy has many students with a variety of special needs, including Asperger's, and caters to them with small classes, lots of individual attention, careful academic monitoring, and efforts to build a supportive, accepting community. The school just doesn't like to position itself as a special needs school. This baffles some of its parents and pleases others. Visit for a day. Summer school starts soon, if it's not already in session. Summer school is a little different from the regular academic year, and gets a somewhat wider spectrum of students, but visiting now will still introduce you to many of the teachers and several of the regular students who are either making up missed work or getting ahead, and the general style of the place. If you like it, your daughter can visit for a day, too, and can shadow a current student. The administration can connect you with some of the Parent Group Board members, to answer specific questions from a parent's point of view. -Happy OA parent of successful LD kid

As for your daughter's mild asberger's, my advice would be to go to the school and ask for an interview with the head of the school, Ron Graydon. He is an extremely principled person who is not going to tell you that the school is right for her unless it is. I feel absolutely sure about this. He is very experienced and wise in terms of not only educational issues, but interpersonal dynamics amongst teens. P

Re: Help in Choosing a Private High School?
This isn't answering exactly the question you posed, about finding a counselor to help find an appropriate middle private school for your kids, but it does address the underlying question, from someone who's been there. Our son, who graduates high school this week, had an IEP in elementary school, and an asymmetric academic profile, with significant, quirky handicaps. Along the way and at a similar juncture to yours, we looked at several schools, including: The Community School (now the middle school at Park Day -- a great community with a developed curriculum of social responsibility, but not quite the right fit, unless we provided outside support), Orinda Academy (the best fit for us), The Archway School (small), Gateway High School (public school focused on LD kids, in SF, open to all in Bay Area, by lottery, do not need an IEP to apply), & Drew (high school in SF). We looked at many more.

Any school can be uneven, and Orinda Academy was sometimes, too, but it also offered some truly inspiring teachers and academic opportunities. for the most part, teachers there, were on our son's side, every day. They cared. Additionally, a few unique programs & processes in place there were crucial to his ultimate success: 1) most teachers encourage and give credit to students who revise work to correct errors, or produce another draft, of any assignment and often even tests; 2) teachers meet the students where they are, academically, and begin there; 3) students with incomplete homework must attend study hall the following day; 4) many classes have students from multiple grades; 5) the administration is flexible, within reason, about accommodating unusual academic requests; 6) there are written progress reports from every teacher, every two weeks; while some comments are perfunctory, many are not. Good luck. :-)

Re: Considering alternatives to public high school
Consider Orinda Academy for your teen. Small class size with a lot of individual attention, responsive teachers, nice kids, accepting community. My son is a sophomore there, and is thriving. Anon

I am a parent of a child at Orinda Academy, a small independent school in Orinda, California. This is a wonderful small school for bright, college bound students, who thrive in a nurturing, structured, high school environment. Class size is small, students and parents have access to teachers and the administration values a diverse student body. This school has been a great fit for my son and I speak with experience as a teacher (at another school) who has had one child attend public school and now has one child in private school. I am writing this letter because many perspective parents and students are unaware of how excellent and wonderful this school is. If anyone would like more information about Orinda Academy from a parent who is currently involved with the school, I would be glad to speak with you. S.

Re: High School for learning disabled teens
Take a look at Orinda Academy (private, in Orinda), The Gateway School (public, in SF but accepts kids from all over the Bay Area, through a lottery system), and Drew (private, SF). Also check out the Parents Education Network, or PEN, a tremendous resource, sponsoring lectures, workshops and a well maintained website: www.parentseducationnetwork.org .

Orinda Academy is not specifically for kids with learning disabilities; but they do have a learning specialist on staff and make an effort to accept and accommodate varied learning styles. Classes are small and kids can participate in multiple grade levels simultaneously to match their skill set (e.g. 12th grade English and Algebra I in the same year). Most classes use a mastery learning system, in which grades can be improved by making corrections. Mandatory study halls for those who do not complete homework encourage development of good study habits. -OA parent

I would like to add to the dialogue about Orinda Academy. Our son is there this year as a ninth grader. The reason we sent him there was that we were concerned about his potential to skate under the radar at public school. We knew that he needed an environment that was both structured and creative, as he is a very smart kid who will think of a million different reasons for playing computer games rather than aiming for the As of which hems capable. The school has completely met our expectations. Itms small, and most of the teachers are fully dedicated to unlocking the potential of every student there. Amazingly, my son said last weekend, 'I don't look forward to weekends so much any more because school is so much fun.' When I asked him what makes this so, he said that the teachers structure their classes so that learning is incredibly productive and fun. The teachers at Orinda Academy are also very cognizant of learning differences and of the need to keep kids with LDs at grade level q but they organize their classes so that such accommodations donmt compromise the college prep curriculum in any way. Kids are expected to perform to their full potential, and the teachers will be on them like a flash if they slack off. PK

Can anyone give me a current recommendation for Orinda Academy? I have visited the school and so far am impressed and believe their mission statement and that the teachers really care about the students learning and their various learning styles. I would also be interested in hearing from parents that have switched their kids from another independent school that also had an upper school to Orinda Academy. Thanks!

Does anyone have recent experience with Orinda Academy? We are looking at it for our 8th grade son. He has some learning issues and could benefit from the high student-teacher ratio, but I don't know if the very small size of the school is considered a disadvantage by the kids who go there. I visited, and liked the teachers and students.
Anonymous

I am considering Orinda Academy as a possible high school for my shy, socially awkward son. Although I'm interested in hearing anything parents can share about their students' experiences at Orinda, I'm particularly interested in hearing more about the students' social environment and whether it would be tolerant and/or welcoming for shyer, ''uncool'' students. Thanks
Shy kid's mom

i would like to hear from parents of orinda academy students to get their take on the school. one of my son's teachers has recommended orinda academy as a good fit for him so i would like to find out more about the culture and environment. my greatest concern is that it has an alternative high school feel. i want to make sure that the environment is also a good fit for him. i am also curious if they have a bus available to students in the east bay (berkeley/oakland area). thanks for your feedback.

Our son is thriving in his first year at Orinda- it is very small and that has the obvious pluses and minuses but they are open to looking at your particular child's learning needs. We have a lot of contact with his teachers and can work things out as they come up rather than learn about the problems at the end when receiving a report card. I would be happy to share our experiences with you.
drjess

Re: 12-year-old getting terrible grades - any suggestions?
If you are considering private schools, Orinda Academy might be a good fit for your son. Enrolling grades 7 - 12, it has a homework tracking and accountability system for all students, which somehow depersonalizes the issue and eliminates this issue as a source of friction at home and at school. Late homework earns an ''incomplete''. The ''incomplete'' student must spend their free periods the next day in a mandatory ''quiet'' study hall. Other students, whose homework is complete, elect to spend their ''frees'' in a number of other ways, like in an open-door, more sociable study hall, out on the basketball court, in the lounge, etc. Homework support available in both study halls, to the extent that the monitoring teacher knows the subject. This simple system encourages personal accountability and responsibility, and takes the parents out of the homework loop. Classes are small (12 - 15 students) and an effort is made to respect and accommodate different learning styles. Students may take classes at different grade levels in different subjects. Many enter the program with issues around homework completion, and the system works pretty smoothly to help them take control of the issue for themselves.
Orinda Academy parent