No matter where a student is sitting in a classroom at the Stephen Gaynor School on New York's Upper West Side, he will hear the teacher's voice in the same tone.
Teachers at the school for students with learning disabilities wear a special device that distributes their voice through speakers around the classroom, so that every student feels like he is in an intimate conversation with his instructor.
It's just one of the many pieces of technology the Stephen Gaynor School implements to help its students.
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The school recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and completed a $40 million renovation on a former Carriage House that now houses its preschool and middle school. It's around the corner from the elementary school on West 90th Street.
The school started with five students in 1962, and has now ballooned to 300. The staff has also grown to about 120 employees. Tuition is $49,600 a year for middle schoolers, although financial aid is available.
"Our main objective is to make sure the culture of our school, giving students individualized help, stays," said school head Dr. Scott Gaynor, who recently took us on a tour of the facilities. Gaynor's grandmother, Mimi Michael, along with Yvette Siegel founded the school.
There are around 11 students in each classroom, with a head teacher and an assistant teacher instructing. The hallways were noticeably quiet, and everyone seemed hard at work.
The curriculum at the school is heavily infused with exercise, art, and photography to help stimulate self-confidence, and to use the parts of the students' brains that are normally overactive in children with disabilities, Gaynor said.
Unlike in mainstream schools, where art and gym time are often kept to a minimum, at the Stephen Gaynor School they are a priority, Gaynor said.
"Exercise helps the students focus in the classroom by expending energy," Gaynor said. "Massive amounts of studies have been done showing that even a quick walk around the block can help a student concentrate in the classroom."
By the time all of the renovations are done, the school will have a glass-enclosed rooftop playground, a four-story glass enclosed bridge connecting the two buildings, and a research center with a librarian and writing coach.
Here's what the building on 89th Street looked like when it was the Claremont Riding Academy.
Welcome to the new Stephen Gaynor School, founded in 1962. This year, the school moved into new facilities in a former carriage house on 89th Street.
These barn doors may look big, but they're light enough for the middle school students to open. The building is considered a landmark, which means its exterior had to be preserved.
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