Frequently Asked Questions

Address: 3643 Main St., Stone Ridge, NY 12484 
Email: contact@highmeadowschool.org 
Phone: 845-687-4855

Children attending daycare and pre-K through 12th grade in New York State must receive all required doses of vaccines on the recommended schedule in order to attend or remain in school. This is true unless they have a valid medical exemption to immunization from the New York State Department of Health. This includes all public, private, and religious schools. A medical exemption is allowed when a child has a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a vaccine. There are no non-medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements in NYS. Contact the school nurse for more information.

Yes!

We are committed to working with every family to make sure that money is not a barrier to your child's education. Fill out an admissions inquiry to get information.

Yes, many of our children travel to school by bus. Each district is required to transport children to nonpublic schools if the family lives within fifteen miles of the school or is on a route provided by the district. Your child needs to be registered with your local district to be eligible to ride the bus. You must also submit a Transportation Request Form. If taking the bus, each district will contact you with information about your pick up time and driver. District bussing occurs only on the days when district schools are in session. If your child takes the bus, please be aware of your home district’s calendar and keep track of any weather-based closures so you can make alternative arrangements for transport when High Meadow is in session and your home district is not. Contact Ann Marie Taylor for more information

Children must be at least 2 years and 9 months old at the start of school with a cut off date of December 1th. Contact Brooke Baxter-Bailey: admissions@highmeadowschool.org for more information. 

Our plan is to continue to provide on campus caregiver/child programming for the 2023/2024 school year. This would be available to children under the age of three. Contact Brooke Baxter-Bailey at admissions@highmeadowschool.org for more information. 

We do our best to align with the public school calendar; however, it is not always exact. Please always check the HMS calendar for accurate up-to-date information. 

The administration team consults with local districts; parents are notified through text and emails. 

We are accredited by NYSAIS on a decennial basis. We are aligned with New York state standards in a student-centered, arts-focused learning environment.

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High Meadow School is governed by a Board of Trustees, works with the school administration to establish and monitor the strategic direction of the school, and is charged with hiring the head of school and ensuring the school’s ongoing fiscal health. 

We have “Pizza Wednesdays,” where families can order pizza for their children, but otherwise families pack lunch for their children each day, including a snack and a refillable water bottle. 

Yes, we provide optional Regents preparation and support families in exploring a variety of high school options. 

Yes! High Meadow offers lots of ways to get involved:

• We have a very active PTO that works to enrich our school through fundraising, events and community-building activities and gatherings.

• Each grade has a CLASS PARENT, whose key role is to communicate with their class. Parents, teachers, administrators and the Board of Trustees rely on class parents to help spread accurate and timely information for the school. 

• PARENTS FOR RACIAL JUSTICE (P4RJ) is a working group dedicated to cultivating a diverse, equitable and inclusive community that recognizes, analyzes and works to reduce racial injustice and systemic inequality. 

• The BIPOC/PGM PARENTS GROUP at High Meadow School comes together to build a strong community for ourselves and our children, fostering an environment of inclusivity, support, and celebration for those who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color - people of the global majority (PGM).

• The LGBTQIA+ FAMILIES ALLIANCE works to increase LGBTQIA+ visibility at High Meadow School and build an affirming school environment, because safe and affirming schools are life-saving for LGBTQIA+ young people. 

Every family is responsible for 25 hours of volunteer service each school year. Families can choose to participate in a variety of in-person or remote volunteer opportunities throughout the year, including event planning, community clean-up, participation in school committees or PTO meetings, donating food or supplies to events, and more. Volunteer opportunities are usually communicated to families through the class parent.

We follow the weather advisory from the Ulster County Department of Health.

Class sizes are limited to 16 students, with occasional exceptions. Our maximum enrollment is 175 students. 

High Meadow school is grounded ideals of progressive education, and our goal is to increase students intrinsic drive to learn. Scientific research suggests that homework often decreases motivation to learn and causes dissatisfaction with schooling over time. However, we do believe that homework can be expertly assigned to provide organic learning opportunities during moments of inquiry for students. Homework is also often a way that teachers assess whether students are able to recall or practice learning achieved during the school day. If students are ever assigned homework - which may be rare - they should be able to complete their work without much support from their families, and they should be engaged with their work. 

Yes, we have aftercare every day for Nursery-8th grade. During Aftercare, facilitators provide a snack, supervise children at play, read stories, and use our beautiful seven-acre campus as a classroom for discovery and investigation of the natural world. For more information on rates and times, visit the AfterCare page. Drop-ins are welcome! 

We also have specialty AfterSchool programs like soccer, Wayfinders Experience, art and music. Pricing will vary depending on the class. AfterSchool classes are open to all children, including children from other schools and the homeschool community.

Meadow MoCA is a week of whole-school collaborative celebration of the arts that culminates in an annual benefits auction that funds numerous items at school - financial aid, facility improvements, etc. This includes art, music recital, and dance recital performances.

Maple Games is High Meadow’s very own version of field day. Students are placed in an age-mixed team to help build a broader community. The teams rotate to different activities - such as a Pancakes with homemade maple syrup, dance-off, water balloon toss, and more - in order to just have plain old fun. The goal of the Maple Games is to celebrate what the year had to offer and is considered our send-off into summer.