Chapel Forge Elementary School

Darrell K… you can’t judge a book by its cover, my friend! The aging façade is the least important part of this school, and I appreciate that they’ve spent more money on the fantastic staff and programming than on beautification of the vintage exterior.
Chapel Forge is a school that provides early intervention services for children from infancy through age 4. Some children have IEPs (Individualized Education Program) that address mental, physical, and emotional challenges that would otherwise inhibit their success in school and at home. Among the staff are physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, and other professionals and paraprofessionals who are all trained and ready to help children work with and hopefully overcome a vast spectrum challenges. I am a huge fan of their inclusive classrooms, of which my son is a part. This is where there are some special ed kids mixed in with mainstream kids. In my mind, this will be good preparation for mainstream kindergarten.
My child’s time here has been marked by a whirlwind of activity. His class has 4 staff members and 17 students, which is an incredible ratio of 4.25 students to each adult. A special education teacher is in the classroom to focus on IEP goals with children who have IEPs. The only hitch is that since a bus does pick up and drop off I don’t get to directly ask his teachers daily, «How was today?» though I can email or call them to check on that.
The staff is amazing. AMAZING! Everyone from the principal to the maintenance workers greet the students by their names. They engage the children. They know what the kids are working on, and engage them in those ways.
Our time with Chapel Forge has been brief thus far, but I’m absolutely impressed. We’re getting better help through this public school than we were able to get through an expensive private preschool last year, whose staff was NOT trained to handle kids that don’t fit the mainstream mold. Nothing against them, but it highlights the quality of the services at Chapel Forge especially as a public school.
It is a little bit of a bear to get into with the application process, testing, and formation of an IEP, but you just have to know that it’s a months-​long process and keep at it. I’m so glad we did.

My brother attended this school in the 70s. Back then, it was old and small. Today, it’s really old and small. No care is provided on the outside of the school and it looks dumpy. Shame to see this establishment go downhill.