Founded in 1975, Mountain Road School is a private, independent, nondenominational preschool and elementary school. The school is incorporated as a nonprofit organization under a New York State Charter and is governed by a Board of Directors. The school has a collaborative governance structure made up of a director, teacher collaborative and parent representative.Mountain Road School was originally founded to educate the children of the Abode community, although from the beginning it attracted families from the surrounding area. We currently have families from the five surrounding public school districts (Chatham, Berlin, Averill Park, East Greenbush and New Lebanon) as well as families from Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Over the years, the Abode’s spiritual life, which honors the unity of all religious traditions, has provided a peaceful setting for the school. The open, eclectic nature of the community enhances the multicultural awareness valued by Mountain Road School.
In 2008, Mountain Road School decided to explore deeply the philosophy of the Reggio Emilia Approach and through this lens adopted a nature based focus for the school in 2009. Evidence of this can be seen in the school wide thematic focus of the Earth, our collaboration with Flying Deer Nature Center, and the use of natural materials in the classroom. For years, the school has mindfully used green products, composted food scraps, recycled paper, recycled ink cartridges but recently also has begun a re-store and has moved over to a green solar powered website hosting company as a further commitment to the environment. Our most recent environmental education achievement was to have our school yard certified as a National Wildlife Habitat!
As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. We are pleased to share a slide show created by the children of the school during our 2010 School On Legs Week. The children spent one day investigating our campus to create a story about the school. Enjoy!
