Pros
This is a school that believes in second chances. Students at AW have been counseled out of their previous school for impulsivity, school avoidance, social difficulties, and so forth. This school provides each student with a clinician, and the clinical staff is wonderful. Unlike what a few other reviewers have written, there are definite consequences for student misbehavior, but these consequences are geared toward helping the student make better choices next time, and I have seen strong growth among many of them over the years. Class size is generally quite small. In the lower school, there might be 1-3 students in some classes and no more than 6-8 in the largest classes. Middle and high school classes are generally 7-10 students. The administration does not micromanage teachers, allowing you to craft your own lessons or to follow along with preset curricula, when available. The school day, including meetings, isn't overly long (8-4), and Fridays are half-days for students. My colleagues are wonderful people, quick with a smile and always willing to lend a hand. The admin team, for the most part, have been at the school for at least a few years and really understand its mission.
Cons
High turnover is always a problem at schools for students with behavioral challenges, so it's not surprising that many teachers leave after a short time -- quite a few have left midyear. For children who depend a good deal on routines, this is quite jarring. Another challenge for teachers is that there are no built-in meeting times with supervisors, something I've never experienced at other schools. The administrators are all dedicated and good people, but fixing this oversight would probably require an additional person in an admin wing that's already too crowded. Speaking of space, the physical plant of the school is quite small and doesn't include a proper gym. In a school where so many students need physical activity in order to regulate their behavior, this causes a significant problem at times, especially on days with bad weather. Even in good weather, the students have to walk nearly a half mile away to use a crowded playground during their gym or recess periods. A really significant problem that the school is trying to address is that many students are addicted to screen time, but in a school where many kids have the right to use a computer as assistive technology, this causes certain haves-vs-have-nots problems. Despite the incredibly high tuition, staff pay is incredibly low, and the school mandates that teachers (and much of the clinical staff) teach 5 weeks of summer school, at no additional pay. This is the equivalent to taking a more than 10% pay cut and gives staff members only a few weeks of break from a school that's quite stressful under the best of conditions. Report writing is a much more time-consuming task at AW than at most schools. This is because lengthy reports have to be written every month in order for the school to maintain its DOE funding. For teachers with many students, this can mean hours of work that many teachers complete during off hours. As other reviewers have pointed out, this is definitely not the school for every teacher. That is especially true for teachers with little to no experience. Unfortunately, quite a few of the staff members fall into this category, especially among the assistant teachers but even among the head teaching staff. These teachers don't always have adequate classroom management skills. Luckily there are some great teachers at the school, and there is also a lot of support provided by the clinical staff. This school should not be a teacher's first job.