New Canaan High School

We moved to New Canaan recently and our transition to NCHS as a 9th grader was excellent. My daughter simply loves her school. Everyone has been patient to explain the many routines that she doesn't know and I am writing because we had the opposite experience to the Parent of 2015. I don't want to say that another families experience is not valid but frankly reading that review made me feel compelled to write in. We all know NCHS is our best town secret. Our High School rocks. Best in State. Unless you come here you won't know how excellent our teachers are, or experience our organized, proactive, thoughtful team of school administrators. The leadership starts from the top with a charismatic effective Principal, and his kind support team oriented staff who always listen and follow up. I believe the aggrieved comments about the guidance office which I find to be as consistently excellent and enthusiastic as all the other academic and athletic departments at the school sounds like alternative fact reality. The security is also top notch. NCHS has no nonsense security and students causing trouble exit quickly. My daughter has a vibrant carefree safe student life; isn't that the way school ought to feel? Adults should never turn a blind eye to wrongdoing. Maybe sometimes a teacher may feel exasperated by adolescent risky behavior but you can't tell me that the adults at NCHS raise their voice because they don't care. Plus I have not had anyone bark at me the way described below. Guidance cares about every child, and no one turns children impatiently away when they have questions without making sure the kids know what is supposed to happen. Even when the questions are repetitive and dumb. I asked for things when the answers were clearly posted online and they still took the time to make sure I was not confused and could understand what precisely I needed to do to make it through the labyrinth bureaucracy that plagues all public schools (not just New Canaan). The fact that any school is responsible for not only finding an alternative but then has the taxpayer paying for the transportation to a special school to accommodate unexpected problems is a blessing because parents should be on top of a tragic health situation. America is a great country and NCHS A+ and they even helped that family who had the audacity to send in such a negative review.

I moved to New Canaan right before my sophomore year of high school. We chose New Canaan due to all of the wonderful things we heard about the school's academics. However, had we known what we know now, we would not have moved to New Canaan. Perhaps my experience would have been the same at another school, but as New Canaan is so highly spoken of and the faculty receives a higher salary than is usual for public school staff, expected much more. As it was my first year in New Canaan, I expected more from the school to integrate me into the system better, and at least explain things to me, like the login methods for computers and how PowerSchool worked to see my grades. However, I had no account to log in to school computers until a teacher took a class to the library and I used a classmate's computer to search for books, and I didn't have a locker until two weeks into school after my mom had to request one. My experience with my guidance counsellor was perhaps the most frustrating. When I did not know about the login for PowerSchool, she raised her voice at me and acted as if I were stupid. But for the entire first semester of sophomore year, no one had informed me of this, and as a student not moving from another school with an American system, there was no way for me to know that I would have my own login if I had not been told about one. This sort of voice raising had continued through the entire year, and by junior year, I did not want to visit the guidance office at all. I took French for the 3 years I was there. We found the the two women who subbed that year and my junior year are much more prepared to prep students for the AP exam. The French average exam grade much lower than the Spanish one. My brother is a freshman now, and he's had a concussion for the entire year. The school is responsible for finding an alternative if they are unable to keep him in their system. One alternative they came up with is located in Milford, which is a 40 minute drive. They said that the good news was the school would provide transport. The bad news is, he can't go on long drives without resting for a while after. Also, in the beginning of the year my mom emailed the nurse and all of his teachers, to tell them about the concussion. The nurse said she’d also emailed about it. On open house night, my mom found that the science teacher had no idea he had a concussion.

An alumni of NCHS who valued her education deeply. Send your kids there if you are considering it, just as valuable of an education as any private school in the area.

I am addressing the review written 4 yrs ago from a disgruntled student who attended NCPS. The individual called the drama dept., "slimy." New Canaan is an affluent community; parents afford dancing, singing, & theatre classes for their children from a young age. By the time these kids get to NCHS their talents are extremely honed, & the theater awards this school receives proves it! However, my own talented daughter found herself to be "a small fish in a big pond," but the drama teacher finds a place for every kid. My daughter worked on the set, props, lighting, stage direction, etc. By the time she graduated high school, she knew she wanted to be a production stage manager on Broadway & is currently a soph. in college pursuing a BFA and her dream. For the talented students who perform at NCPS, the competition IS difficult - Just like life! However, they learn about themselves & each other in the safe & supportive environment of a benevolent drama coach who is part teacher, mentor, therapist, & mom to these kids. This woman saved my daughter & gave her focus, passion, & a wonderful work ethic. How is a program like that "slimy"? Shakespeare said, "to thy own self be true."