I debated quite a long time about whether I should write a review about our experience at Woodland…read moreHill (WH). After talking to so many other parents that experienced and are experiencing similar issues as we did. I would feel remiss to not help another family trying to make a difficult decision to either put in or remove their child from WH. WH has a beautiful property and facade, there are some good people that work there. However, that is where my praise for WH stops. There are a few main issues that I and others have had with WH that I feel should be shared. They do not give you a good idea where your child is academically. There are very few points of contact from the teachers. They send home 2 very vague progress reports a year with "WH language" by which I mean they tend to use words that are very neutral or ambiguous. The 2 parent teacher conferences throughout the year are very short, and there is little time to discuss. When I was able to meet with the teacher, they would revert to a thing my child said which seemed to divert any attention from the teacher. Every meeting we had they said the same thing, anything else they said was generic and neutral. Multiple parents that I have spoken with that left the school were astonished about how far their child was behind. They were embarrassed to not have noticed it and had to hire tutors. More importantly. There is a MAJOR BULLYING PROBLEM. The concerns that I had brought up to the teachers were actually about bullying and not academics. Again, these concerns were brushed off with generic language like talking to a politician. We were assured that a specialist was going through every class, and urged to wait for that to happen. It was months before that specialist got to our classroom, and nothing changed. Several parents have contacted us with the same issue, asking to get together so that our children can play so they can feel better after being bullied all day in school. For two years my child told me when he walked into the school that he felt "empty inside". They would come home and tell us that it was the worst year of their life. They saw a child from WH and literally ran and hid because of how they had been treated. You can see the school trying to bring in faculty to address this problem. Ironically from my experience, the faculty that were tasked with this were the same faculty that clearly had no experience in child education and were the very faculty that made my child afraid and uncomfortable to walk into the school daily. There is a yearly fundraiser for WH where they hire a professional auctioneer. There are people that pay $30,000 for a reserved parking spot, that you will never see a car in. Do you really think they would tell the parent of that child that they were bullying other children or do anything about it? What some other parents said to me rang so true. WH is more like a daycare than a school. Sure, some children will thrive in this environment, and WH will be sure to prop them up on a pedestal when contested. If for any reason you are trying to decide if you should make a financial sacrifice to give your children, then I urge you to not make this choice. WH will make you feel like you can't get an education anywhere else, and if your child leaves you are doing them a huge disservice. It is a multi-level marketing \ cult mentality. Once you see through it is nothing but BS. If this review sounds jaded. It is. The experiences I was promised from WH were all false. They claim that the older children will build the younger children up, bring up their confidence, and foster a love of learning. In reality, mine's confidence and spirit was crushed. My child was frozen with panic, forced to skip recess and lunch. These false promises go right down the extra curriculars. You sign up for a cooking class and make brownie mix from a box. Leaving the school was the best decision we ever made for our child, and they are finally healing from the years of turmoil by attending there.

I'm grateful every day that we found WHMS! Where do I start?…read more This school encompasses everything that is good about Montessori school---they teach kindness and self-sufficiency and self-directed learning. My daughter learns so much there every day. Her teacher, Nancy, is the embodiment of calm and awesomeness--she's like a Zen master! We visited another school and my three year old daughter cried through the entire visit. When we visited Woodland Hill, she was calm and happy and said, "Mom, I really want to go to school there." I love their values around sustainability, peace, and treating others with respect. The school itself is exceedingly well-run, organized, and structured (in a good way). I feel that it is the best of all worlds, and the tuition is beyond reasonable for what they offer. There's a great community of families; I haven't met one single person I don't like, and people really work together. It's fun getting to being a part of this.

This is a special school in the Schenectady, New York area, that serves children with many…read moredifferent abilities. They have before and after school care with highly trained staff and lots of opportunities. Come check us out!

I would never send my child here!! If I could rate a zero I would.....When doing tours they lie…read moreabout ratios and who is in classroom. They don't have educated staff. They will tell you your child is receiving a service, they are not! They have no subs so related service is doing it. The administration staff is a joke, one doesn't speak to you, one lies and one laughs at everything!! They have people who steal from the company. They have had to call cps on themselves, they loose children all the time!! The place is a joke, don't enroll Your child there or work there! Please don't!!

From the owner: The Newmeadow is an integrated preschool whose mission is to transform the lives of children,…read moreincluding those with autism and other special needs, and prepare them for learning and life through the application of the Bridges ABA applied behavior analysis program and the incorporation of self-contained and integrated classroom instruction and all related services. To ensure that every child becomes engaged in observation, learning and responding with an emphasis on language, communication, social and play skills and the development of independence.

Colonie Central High School seems to be a very good compromise between having good facilities and a…read moregood educational program along with keeping school taxes reasonable. My two special-needs kids both went to school there and, with a lot of help, both graduated with Regents diplomas. One went to a technical/trade school after that. I'm not saying the school is perfect, in fact, it's far from it. But I've been quite satisfied, for the most part, as a parent. I feel we got a really good value for our money and while our kids both had some problems they were not insurmountable. I feel the school has an excellent location, even if it is somewhat hemmed in, that is convenient and easy to reach for a good number of students (we were very close so our kids could walk) and yet also close to other facilities such as Colonie Center Mall. We don't see as much of the school as we did when our kids were there, helping with such things as Line n Cue or watching our daughter play lacrosse but we still are reminded when football games are played there behind our house or when we see runners on our street for the Raider Classic.

I've taken three Son-Rise Program courses here! This is such an amazing, life changing experience!…read moreThe approach is so loving. Letting the child with autism initiate and lead interaction by respecting and joining in their stim or "ism". It is an amazing way to bond with your child in their world so that you can then build a bridge for them to cross into yours. It gives you the tools to improve your attitude. Then you may better help your child to learn and grow and have happy, healthy relationships.

Thanks to Sonrise (Autism Treatment Center of America) my son is recovered from autism just like…read morethe founders' son Raun. He now has friends and even a girl friend, and the director at his school says he is the most mature, kind, and compassionate 14 year old boy she has ever known. We spent 5 years on biomed and saw some improvement, but the great improvement happened when we started Sonrise. Now after 3 1/2 years of Sonrise we have met our goals. You can call and talk with their program advisors at any time. They are extremely helpful.

I have one child who has graduated, one currently attending high school, and another in elementary…read moreschool. The sole positive aspect of this school district has been Pine Bush Elementary. The middle school appears to be predominantly managed by the students. If your child experiences bullying, do not expect a timely resolution or a resolution at all. The track program at the high school is an excellent and supportive team. The coaches are amazing and work really hard with the students. Conversely, for soccer players, the only means of gaining recognition seems to be if you are a teacher in Guilderland or affiliated with the Dutchmen FC. I do not recommend this school district. The negatives out weight the positives by a lot.

Excellent school when I was there. Special needs services were fantastic and helped me though…read moreschool to succeed. Music department is one of the best I have ever seen. Glad I was there to be part of class of 2017. If your child has special needs this school district is the best decision to make!!!

I signed my child up for services here. The previous 2 star review is very accurate. Our care…read moreworker called CPS on our family with little knowledge and research. She was already behind in her paperwork and could not keep up with our needs. The CPS call was inaccurate and put more stress on our family. We have asked to be discharged from the program and we will go somewhere else where we feel safe. I would not sign my child up here.

I have devoted almost 5 years of my life working for Northern Rivers. I was only a few months away…read morefrom celebrating my 5th anniversary. For 2 years of that devoted time I have made multiple complaints to my Supervisor Willie Leaks (Director of Residential), he always fed me whatever I wanted to hear to shut me up and go on with his day. For over a year Willie allowed Troy Kennedy to reek havoc within the organization and treat people like complete trash and discriminate against anyone who was white. Multiple reports were made against Troy Kennedy and his puppet Nicole Praylow who was promoted to House Supervisor with only being with the agency for 8 months and having ZERO knowledge of the job. Troy's reasoning was 17 yrs experience which was a lie, he's been friends with her for over a decade, that's the real reason she got the job over everyone else who was more deserving of that position. Nicole Praylow did nothing but abuse her new found power that was just handed to her. She began treating the youth worse than she did prior to title change, started acting down right disrespectful to all the staff, more so the white ones. She spent most of her days doing no work, just sat in her office on her pedestal watching movies on her iPad, scratching her lotto tickets, online shopping or talking on the phone to every family member she has. She failed to go grocery shopping weekly and would go out on vacation with barely any food in the house and would not leave money or card access for anyone in the house to go shopping. When staff get fed up and put in a Justice Center Report, that is when she finally goes shopping to prove to them that there was food in the house. After she stocks the food in the house to save her job she then retaliates against who she THINKS put the report in. I being the ONLY white person in the house received the most mistreatment. This was brought to the attention of Troys' replacement Natasha Johnson, as well as her boss Willie Leaks. I continued to get ignored and brushed off. Natasha's response to the reports was to retaliate against the only white person and write them up without a prior conversation to ask if they needed help or support in anything after I expressed struggling with things. Nicole saw her opportunity after giving me another write up which put me at my final. I put in for a transfer because I sensed my termination was inevitable if I didn't leave that location, I was terminated the next day. When I attempted to rectify my final write up I was then terminated for "falsifying documentation" which had nothing to do with my previous write ups. When I attempted to reason with Willie Leaks at my termination meeting he refused to listen to what I was trying to tell him and rushed me out the door. All of this highly unethical and possibly illegal behavior is happening under Bill Getmans watch as CEO. I intend to reach out to him in hopes of getting this situation rectified, but I remain doubtful he will even respond or take me serious enough to follow up on anything.

Their employees (while given adequate training) are over-worked and under compensated (like, below…read moreminimum wage for their starting positions). In return, their staff retention is awful and their quality of service is compromised regularly (most noticeable in their Residential, Day Hab services, Arts Programs, and College Experience Programs). Additionally, management was willing to compromise safety of individuals in their care in order to make profit during covid-19 pandemic. Many of their non-essential programs were reopened too early and with sub par safety regs. This company is more invested in profit than the care of its clientele and staff.

Very corrupt and crooked and their policies and rules are very ridiculous…read more Thwy treat their consumers unfairly, like they are really really stupid.

These guys are great. very helpful and they don't try to go deep into your pockets. Thank you guys…read morefor the parts, the help, the information, and everything. I personally will be doing more business with them. Keep up the good work guys.

Walked in looking for a dart board. Dealt with Tom who couldn't have been nicer or more helpful,…read moreand they had just what I was looking for. The place is a little hard to find, but you'll figure it out once you get close.