the gateway school director of the lower school

The GaTeway SchoolNew york, New york

DirecTor of The lower SchoolJuly 2016

www.gatewayschool.org

The PoSiTioNFounded in 1965, The Gateway School develops bright students with language-based learning disabilities and/or attention deficit into skilled, strategic learners and confident self-advocates. Blending its historical expertise with the findings of current, scientifically validated research, Gateway creates within each student the capacity for academic and social success. In small classes using direct, explicit, and multisensory instruction, and guided by a language-rich, integrated independent school curriculum, trained faculty teach students the content, skills, and strategies necessary to produce academic work reflective of their intellectual potential. At Gateway, students experience success, recognize their strengths, and develop self-advocacy skills. Students transition to mainstream school settings when they can do so successfully.

Gateway also works closely with parents and professionals. Through ongoing, empathetic dialogue, Gateway helps parents understand their child’s learning profile, his or her current need for remediation, and how to provide for their child educationally in the future. In workshops and lectures or through its Professional Development program, Gateway teaches professionals and the broader community about the nature and effective remediation of learning disabilities.

The school is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in close proximity to Lincoln Center in the borough’s first LEED (“Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”) certified school building. It currently enrolls 143 students in two divisions, with 69 students ages five through 10 in its ungraded

Lower School. In the midst of a gradual expansion, the Lower School will expand to 100 students over the next several years, bringing the total school enrollment to approximately 180 students.

The Gateway School is seeking an experienced educator and leader as Director of Lower School effective July 1, 2016. The Director will report to the Head of School and provide administrative and programmatic oversight for the faculty and students in the Lower School. Working closely with the Head of School and key administrators, the Director will be responsible for furthering Gateway’s mission to transform the lives of its students by developing them into confident, motivated, independent learners.

1The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates [email protected] | www.carneysandoe.com

Mission Statement

The Gateway School teaches students with learning disabilities academic skills and strategies, and helps them develop the social competence and self-confidence necessary to succeed in mainstream educational settings and in the community at large. Gateway provides a nurturing educational environment that empowers students to overcome developmental hurdles and allows their talents to flourish. As they learn to appreciate their strengths, cope with challenges, and take pride in their academic and social success, they gain confidence in themselves and in their ability to shape their own lives.

A pioneer in the field, Gateway remains committed to helping parents and professionals understand the nature and treatment of learning disabilities. Believing a close, positive relationship between the School and parents is an essential element in the growth and development of every student, Gateway is committed to working closely with each family in the School.

Moving beyond the immediate community of the School, Gateway is dedicated to teaching parents and professionals about the many facets of learning disabilities and their remediation through workshops, courses, and training programs.


oPPorTuNiTieS aND challeNGeSThe Director of Lower School will work with students, parents, faculty, and an administrative team. Just as Gateway students benefit from close attention, so do their parents. The Director will need to know each student and his/her family situation well and be responsive to parents’ concerns. In concert with the administrative team, the Director will train and support faculty and enhance the integration of curriculum within and across divisions. Since there is a plan to grow Gateway, the next Director of the Lower School will need to be ready to adapt the program and the use of time and space as enrollment increases. Whether working internally or with families, the Director of Lower School will be responsible for continuously fostering a sense of community in and around the Lower School.

STuDeNTSThe typical Gateway student has struggled in a traditional classroom and requires an approach to teaching that acknowledges that he or she learns differently. Gateway students have language-based learning differences (dyslexia, expressive and receptive language delays, reading and writing disorders), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), executive function disorder, and/or visual-spatial or auditory processing difficulty. In classes with a low student-to-teacher ratio, faculty and specialists pay close


attention to how each child learns and individualize instruction accordingly. An integrated curriculum weaves together skills, strategies, and content. Instruction is direct, explicit, sequential, and multisensory, as validated by research. As teachers guide students to identify their strengths and take pride in their accomplishments, Gateway students become skilled, strategic learners and confident self-advocates.

faculTyHighly qualified teachers, specialists, and therapists with graduate degrees and the necessary certifications come together at Gateway to transform the lives of students and their families. They share the belief that each student can learn, provided he or she receives appropriate and effective research-based instruction. To ensure a high standard of instruction, they participate in an ongoing Professional Development program that includes required course participation, in-house lectures, workshops, individual coaching, and recurrent observations and evaluation.

School hiSToryFounded 50 years ago, Gateway was one of the first schools of its kind and is very proud of its history as a pioneer and leader in the field of special education. In 1964, a prominent advocate for a child’s right to an education introduced an educator at Columbia University Teachers College to a mother who could not find a school that would accept her son. Building on principles elucidated from her study and her widely acclaimed demonstration classes at Teachers College, Elizabeth Freidus joined forces with Claire Flom to establish The Gateway School of New York. Their mission and vision were to teach bright children who had trouble

learning how to learn, to educate their families and the professional community about the nature of learning disabilities, and to develop and disseminate effective instructional approaches and programs for students with special needs.


Over the years, Gateway has remained deliberately small yet has expanded and relocated in response to parents’ demands for its reliably effective approach to equipping students for successful transitions to mainstream schooling. In 1964, Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church became Gateway’s home for the next 36 years. Following an initial expansion from 35 to 60 students, Gateway relocated in 2001 to a brownstone at 236 Second Avenue. This building was subsequently named The Evelyn McKenzie Building to commemorate a beloved teacher. With the addition of a Middle School in 2007, Gateway relocated to its current home at 211 West 61st Street. In 2010, Gateway became the first independent school to receive the National Center for Learning Disabilities’ Founder’s Award for exceptional service to children and families.

The School ToDayGateway is a NYSAIS (New York State Association of Independent Schools) accredited independent school and enrolls more than 140 boys and girls ages five to 14. In June 2014, the Board of Trustees adopted a strategic plan that will secure Gateway’s position as one of the premier independent schools serving students with special needs.

• In response to the market’s demand for more seats in schools for students with learning disabilities, Gateway will grow its enrollment to a total of 180 students over the next five years.

• This growth will occur in the Lower School with the acceptance of one additional class of students annually. This slow and carefully orchestrated expansion will ensure Gateway continues to enroll only those students who will benefit most from its program.

Coupled with the implementation of a new, comprehensive independent school curriculum designed to meet the learning needs of its entire student body, Gateway looks forward to developing its future generation of students into skilled, strategic learners ready to realize their potential in school and in life.

The lower School

In a language-rich environment, Lower School students acquire fundamental academic and organizational skills along with the interpersonal skills essential for success in school and in life. The emphasis throughout the elementary school years is on how to learn. The acquisition of language skills is paramount. Through their successes in the classroom and as they participate in school life, students develop the self-confidence that inspires them to assume responsibility for their own learning. As awareness of their unique learning styles emerges, Lower School students develop the early skills of self-advocacy and are ready to meet the challenges of Middle School.

Designed for students ages five through 10, the tone of the Lower School is at once nurturing and dynamic. In ungraded homerooms of up to 10 students with two teachers, students are grouped by age, academic proficiency, and compatibility. In Reading and Math classes, they divide into small groups of two to eight


students with one teacher. These skill-based groups are homogeneous, determined by age and proficiency, to facilitate targeted and individualized instruction. They are also flexible. Teachers assess students regularly and modify the groupings when change is warranted. At every turn, Lower School students are supported by a high level of structure, given clear expectations, and guided by virtue of diagnostic instruction taught according to their individual needs.

Each day, students devote two periods or 90 minutes to instruction in Reading and Writing. Math instruction occurs daily. Students participate in Social Studies and Science classes up to five and four times, respectively, throughout the week. Every day, they attend either Movement or Adaptive Physical Education. Their Arts classes include the Visual Arts, Music, Dance, and Movement.

Students also receive related services including Language and Occupational Therapy. A Social Development curriculum encompasses Counseling. Language instruction is tightly integrated with Reading and Writing and, in turn, with the subject areas. Students meet two times per week for Language instruction, both in small groups and with their homerooms. The Language Therapist is available in the classroom as needed. Occupational Therapy and Counseling are delivered weekly in small groups and on a push-in basis as needed.

PlacemeNT

Working mainly with eighth grade families, the Placement Office guides and supports the parents and student throughout a year-long process of identifying and making the right match between the student and a post-Gateway school. Gateway’s recommendations incorporate the perspectives of the entire team that works with a student, and the Associate Director of Admissions and Placement works with each family from initial school tours to test prep to interviews and the submission of applications.

PhySical camPuS

Located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in close proximity to Lincoln Center and Columbus Circle, Gateway is very proud of its environmentally low-impact school building. LEED Silver-certified in 2009, Gateway’s 35,000 square feet features:

afTer GaTeway

The following is a partial list of schools at which Gateway students have been accepted in the past five years:

• Bay Ridge Preparatory School• The Berkeley Carroll School• The Birch Walthen Lenox School• Brooklyn Friends School• The Browning School• The Calhoun School• Cheshire Academy• The Churchill School & Center• The Dwight School• Eagle Hill School (MA)• The Ethel Walker School• The Forman School• Grace Church School• The Hewitt School• Landmark High School• Loyola School• LREI• Mary McDowell Friends School• The Purnell School• The Summit School• Winston Preparatory School• York Preparatory School


• classrooms acoustically designed to meet students’ auditory processing needs• a library• two science laboratories• a multi-purpose common room that serves as a lunchroom, theater, and lecture space• a junior-size gym• two movement rooms• art, fabrication, and photography rooms• a kiln

Technology and sophisticated video equipment are installed and used throughout the school.

New york ciTyNew York City is the largest metropolis in the United States and home to more than 8,000,000 residents. Composed of five distinct boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island), the city is world-famous for its many artistic, cultural, and culinary offerings and its diverse “melting pot” of people. Major attractions include Times Square, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bronx Zoo, Broadway, Wall Street, Columbia University, NYU, and many more institutions that make up the vibrant cultural fabric of this dynamic and exciting city.

QualificaTioNS aND QualiTieS of The NexT DirecTor of lower SchoolThe Gateway School seeks a Director of Lower School who:

• Embraces the mission and pedagogy of Gateway• Has important experience as a classroom teacher of young children, including early childhood• Has training and experience with students with language-based learning challenges and attention deficit• Has educational leadership experience in schools or settings for students with learning differences• Is open to students, parents, faculty, and other administrators and is responsive in a way that is empathetic,

tactful, and candid• Has demonstrated an inclusive and collaborative management style• Has experience or a strong interest in working in an urban school setting with strong and successful parents


To aPPlyInterested candidates should submit the following materials electronically to Jake Dresden of Carney, Sandoe & Associates:

• A cover letter explaining the reasons for interest in and qualifications for becoming the next Director of the Lower School at Gateway

• A current resume• A personal educational statement• The names, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of five references. References will be contacted only

with the candidate’s permission.

Jake DreSDeN

[email protected] Search Consultant

CARNEY, SANDOE & ASSOCIATES44 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02138

www.carneysandoe.com

the gateway school director of the lower school

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