"How we choose to believe and speak and treat others, how we choose a civic role for ourselves, is the deepest purpose of education, and of the art of teaching"
A Bartlett Giamatti
Lorraine D. Foster Day School (LDFDS) is a psycho-educational day program for students who have met with failure in previous school settings. We draw students primarily from New Haven and Fairfield County, but any student in the State within an hour's driving time is eligible for consideration. Students are referred by school districts through the Planning and Placement Team (PPT) process.
It is the school's mission to empower students, enabling them to function as competent, responsible individuals who possess the ability to enrich their own lives and to contribute to the betterment of the world-at-large.
Although we have the ability to address a wide variety of behavioral and/or learning problems, Lorraine D. Foster Day School is not geared to meeting the needs of the chronically aggressive or violent student.
"I am concerned with the next generation of voices. I wish them to be as strong and confident and effective in what they do as those who came before. And they will be, if we can recall our nature and our purpose and engage each other to fashion our future together."
A. Bartlett Giamatti
Lorraine D. Foster Day School's philosophy is distinguished by an insistence on high standards for personal conduct, a dogged belief in the value of hard work and high expectations as therapeutic and civilizing agents, and a commitment to providing an environment for growth and learning that is stimulating, caring, and safe. Accordingly, excellence is emphasized throughout the LDFDS program, from academics and behavior to communication skills and appearance.
Elements from many different theoretical constructs are integrated into the school's programming. We feel strongly that a multidisciplinary approach — one which utilizes relevant educational, behavioral, environmental and psychotheraputic group techniques — not only promotes a deeper and healthier self-understanding but results in long-term improvements in social, emotional and cognitive functioning.
LDFDS provides a State approved educational program that meets the sending school's requirements for high school graduation. All teachers are certified in Special Education. An individualized educational plan (IEP) is developed for each student and short-term objectives are reviewed 8 times a year. Parents are expected to attend at least 3 formal conferences a year.
To enable students to function optimally in both the classroom and the community, LDFDS stresses the development of constructive behaviors in the following areas:
Students have the opportunity to address problems individually with a clinical social worker, as well as to participate in weekly group meetings with their classmates and teachers. Students who become unable to function within classroom guidelines are sent or report voluntarily to Time-Out, a program that is central to effective behavior management and conflict resolution at LDFDS. Guided by the Time-Out advisor, students devise a classroom re-entry plan that promotes accountability for their actions and teaches the value of making and adhering to commitments.
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may not remember; involve me and I'll understand." Native American Saying
We feel that students learn best in small classes where a strong relationship can be developed between student and teacher. The average classroom ratio, therefore, is 1 teacher to 8 students. Emphasis is placed upon the development of core academ
ic skills and the acquisition of true literacy. Lessons take into account each student's instructional level, developmental needs and cognitive learning style, and the staff encourages active learning through the design of curricula that focuses on individual strengths and interests. Science, social studies, the arts, and physical education are also an integral part of the curriculum.
Each week, students can expect:
5 classes each in English, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies
3 Art classes
3 Physical Education classes
2 Technology classes
1 Pottery class
1 Group Counseling meeting
An activity period where they can pursue interests such as: Cooking, Computer Animation, Hiking, Climbing, Drama.
"By space, the universe encompasses and swallows me like a particle; by thought, I encompass it." Pascal
LDFDS is designed with keen awareness of the role aesthetics play in affecting the way people feel and behave within an environment. The space is planned and decorated in a manner that is soothing and pleasing. The Facility includes:
a Meditation Garden with a pond and a tea house. The tea house is a place for contemplation and is used year-round as a space to hold classes. The garden contains a mini-amphitheater which is used for group gatherings and activities.
a Common Room with a kitchen area which serves as our community meeting space, a place to cook meals and as a space to hold activities such as Drama.
a Pottery Studio with 5 wheels, a kiln and an area for hand-building.
a Gymnasium with a basketball court and climbing wall.
Classrooms equipped with a minimum of two computers and access to the internet.
a Technology room equipped with 8 on-line computers.
"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats
As a psychiatric social worker in the late 1950's, Lorraine D. Foster became increasingly frustrated and troubled watching children suffer the dramatic consequences of what she called "the tragedy that comes with a sense of failure." She felt strongly about the kind of education these children needed to succeed: classes of no more than six students; highly creative teachers; and a flexible school program where each child could progress according to his or her own ability. Unfortunately, schools like this just did not exist in Connecticut. Motivated by the strength of purpose that so often accompanies clarity of vision, Ms. Foster secured both the encouragement and assistance of friends within the Yale and New Haven psychiatric communities and in 1961 established The Foster School.
Located in the former Foote School building on Saint Ronan Street in New Haven, the Foster School was dedicated to teaching children who experienced difficulty learning in a typical school setting, and it quickly became a prototype of progressive co-educational day schooling for children with special needs. The school's mission was to rescue emotionally or educationally impaired children from a self-perpetuating pattern of failure and to prepare them for return to the conventional classroom. Today, LDFDS remains true to the goals of Lorraine D. Foster, and continues to be a leader in programming for special need students.