WHAT IS CEDARHURST SCHOOL?
Cedarhurst School is a private therapeutic junior and senior high school,
serving grades 6-12, operated by Yale University. It offers a structured and
supportive learning environment for students identified as SED and OHI.
Goals for Cedarhurst Students
l Academic achievement
l Social and emotional development
l Staying in school
l Returning to the home school district when appropriate
l Graduation from high school
l College or productive employment
Characteristics of the program
Cedarhurst offers both mainstream programs (students move from classroom to
classroom) and self-contained programs for students requiring more intensive,
ongoing academic instruction and behavioral interventions. Academic course
schedules are tailored to meet the credit requirements of the referring school.
Students learn in an atmosphere that fosters attention, concentration, and the
organizational skills necessary for academic success. Providing small classes
with a maximum of eight students allows students who have failed to adapt to
other settings to thrive academically, emotionally and socially in our
nurturing environment. A clinician is assigned to each student providing
therapeutic interventions and individual meetings as needed. The staff consists
of a director, certified special education teachers, a nurse, licensed clinical
social workers and other trained support staff. The referral process includes an interview and shadow visit(s) to determine
appropriateness for either program.
The role of the parent
Parents are encouraged to attend PPT's, Open Houses/Teacher conferences/Parent
Support Groups. They should maintain close phone contact with the social
worker, advisor and school nurse to assist in problem-solving and
implementation of plans of action. Parents are important members of the team,
working in the best interests of
the student.
The Parents' Group is a very important part of the therapeutic program at
Cedarhurst School and we encourage all of our parents to make every effort to
attend. The Cedarhurst Parents' Group meets once a month throughout the year
and is led by the Clinical Social Work Team.
Speakers invited to discuss psychopharmacology, substance abuse, psychiatric
diagnosis and treatment; communications, behavioral management and transition
planning are scheduled throughout this
coming year.
OUR HISTORY
1960 - School was opened on Cedar Street under the supervision of The Yale
Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychiatry, tutoring students who were 18
years and older who had not graduated from high school
1970's - The Y.P.I. moved to the Albertus Magnus campus.
Patients/students were younger and required a more formalized educational
program to meet their graduation requirements.
1982 - Cedarhurst School moved to the current facility in the Jackson Mansion.
The program expanded to include SED day students of junior/senior high school
age as well as providing education to patients hospitalized at the Y.P.I.
OUR BUILDING
For more than half a century, our building was the home of John Day Jackson, his
wife Rose Herrick Jackson, and their eight children.
A native of Hartford, a graduate of the Yale Class of 1890 and Chairman of the
Yale Daily News, Mr. Jackson was a newspaper reporter and correspondent before
he became the owner, editor and publisher of the New Haven Register in 1895. He
married Rose Herrick of Dundee, Illinois,
in 1909. As their family grew, they planned and built this house, occupying it
in 1919 and raised their five sons and three daughters in the house.
Designed in Tudor style by architect Charles O. Whitmore of Hartford, the house
was built on land purchased from the estate of Eli Whitney. It first stood
almost alone in a wooded countryside near the end of Prospect Street, which was
then a dirt road. The family's wide interests and Mr. Jackson's many public
commitments, however, kept it a center of activity. When the children went off
to school and college and marriage, this home remained a favorite gathering
place for them and for 28 Jackson grandchildren on holidays and special family
occasions.
While Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were both music lovers, Mrs. Jackson was a particular
patron of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Over several decades, the spacious
living room at the south end of the first floor, with its two grand pianos, was
the scene of intimate concerts by musicians of worldwide reputation. Pianists
Van Cliburn, John Browning and Gary Graffman, cellist Aldo Parisot, and soprano
Povla Frijsch were among the distinguished musicians who performed under this
roof.
John Day Jackson died in 1961, at age 93. Rose Herrick Jackson died
in 1977 at the age of 88.
In 1981, Yale University obtained the house through the Jackson's son, Lionel S.
Jackson, as a home for the Cedarhurst School.
