News & Press

November 21, 2006  ---   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chartwell School

Kristen Atkins, Outreach Director

831-394-3468 x1012

Marli Melton, Advancement Director

  831-394-3468 x1026

November 21, 2006

 

            Seaside, CA - The Board of Trustees of Chartwell School is pleased to announce receipt of a $50,000 grant from AT&T Pebble Beach Charities in support of the School’s learning partnerships with other community organizations. The grant is payable over two years. Chartwell is currently working with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Monterey County, offering the free Reading for Life After-School Tutoring Program at both the Seaside and Salinas clubs. Chartwell is also working closely with preschool educators at the Salvation Army Child Development Center in Seaside so that even more of their students will enter kindergarten and first grade fully prepared to learn and enjoy their school experience.   Chartwell also provides learning support services to various other schools and youth-serving organizations, summer professional education for teachers, and free public workshops, information and referrals. Low-cost, on-site workshops and coaching for schools and youth organizations on a variety of learning-related topics, team building, and social skills are also available. 

“We are most grateful to AT&T Pebble Beach Charities for this generous support, which will allow us to continue to help more people with learning challenges, and also help others understand the best ways to create successful outcomes for the more than 12,000 students in our region who face learning challenges,” said Douglas Atkins, Chartwell’s Executive Director.   “These are students with normal or better intelligence who can learn well, but learn differently." 

Many educators, both locally and nationally, have noted the correlation between unremediated learning difficulties and other problems affecting youth, including increased rates of academic failure, school truancy, failure to complete high school, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and involvement with the juvenile justice system. Chartwell’s work, both at the school and in the community, aims to help more students overcome the odds and reclaim their potential to be lifelong learners and contributing members of our communities.   Interested educators may contact Kristen Atkins at 394-3468.

Since 1983, Chartwell School has educated students with dyslexia and related language processing difficulties in a way that provides them with the learning skills and self-esteem necessary to return successfully to mainstream education. Chartwell is the only school if its kind in the tri-county areas of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz.   Instruction at Chartwell is research-based and emphasizes an explicit, systematic, phonetically-based and multi-sensory approach.   Chartwell currently enrolls 124 students, ages 6-14 from throughout the tri-county area. The School is providing more than $425,000 in need-based financial aid this year.

   Chartwell opened a new, high performance green campus this fall overlooking Monterey Bay at the former Ft. Ord. The campus features water and energy conservation, natural ventilation, well-designed acoustics, radiant floor heating, low VOC materials, and ample natural daylight, which has been shown to improve educational outcomes in language arts and math by 20% and more. A solar photovoltaic system, cistern for rainwater collection and reuse, “green”concrete, sustainably harvested lumber, use of recycled materials, drought resistant landscaping, and other elements help conserve resources, reduce ongoing operating costs, and help students learn math and science.

            For more information about Chartwell’s Outreach Programs, please contact Kristen Atkins, Outreach Director, at 394-3468 x 1012. For information about the School, its social skills and counseling programs, and the new campus, please contact Nora Lee, Head of School, or Douglas Atkins, Executive Director, at 394-3468. Websites relevant to this story include www.chartwell.org <http://www.chartwell.org> , www.montereypeninsulafoundation.org <http://www.montereypeninsulafoundation.org>, www.schwablearning.org <http://www.schwablearning.org>, and www.interdys.org <http://www.interdys.org>. For more on high performance schools see the Collaborative for High Performance Schools at www.chps.net <http://www.chps.net> and for more on sustainable design and green buildings, see www.usgbc.org <http://www.usgbc.org>. 

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