Celebrating Potential.
Elevating Success.
Chelsea School has maintained a philosophy that children thrive – both socially and academically – when their unique needs are met. For more than 45 years, we’ve provided individualized programming to students with specific language-based learning differences in a rigorous, individualized college preparatory environment. Our vision is a model educational community where each student is valued, has equitable access to opportunity, embraces their differences, and celebrates their achievements.
Serves approximately 65 students every year
Strives for a 4:1 student-staff ratio, with classes that range from 2 to 8 students
In the past 5 years, 100% of Chelsea’s seniors graduated with a MD, DC, or Chelsea School diploma
For the 2024-2025 school year, Chelsea School is launching an all-new house system, the first in our almost 50 year history! The houses, four in all, are named after famous knights: King Arthur, Sir Percival, Sir Gawain, and Sir Lancelot. Each house is represented by an animal, and an action word. House Percival’s call […]
For more than 25 years, Perry Nichols has made a positive impact on the health and livelihood of Chelsea School students. He is known as a major jokester amongst the teachers, writing limericks and getting a laugh out of everyone!
You may recognize Mr. Nichols from an NBC4 news segment last year, after Chelsea School had the opportunity to partner with local nonprofit Leveling the Playing Field. This exciting experience gave Chelsea students at-home sports kits, which allowed them to engage in physical education during virtual learning. Students and staff can attest to the fact that Mr. Nichols is constantly looking for new and exciting ways to engage students in their own wellness.
“I like seeing the satisfaction on a child’s face when they learn a new skill, a new game, or a new sport, and when they improve on a skill involved with that sport or activity,” said Mr. Nichols. “I like teaching the whole child. This means giving the child as many parts of a skill needed to accomplish a single task and showing them how and when to use every part of the skill to accomplish that task.”
Chelsea staff and students have nothing but love (and jokes) for our beloved Mr. Nichols:
“Mr. Nichols pushes me as my coach.”
“He has an amazing energy and a laugh that lights up a room!”
“He is super funny and nice!”
“Health class is really fun.”
We are so incredibly grateful to have Mr. Nichols as a teacher, mentor, coach, and friend here at Chelsea School!
P.S – To watch Mr. Nichols featured on NBC4, look HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5d6DP1qYIM
For the past 12 years, Karen Gallo has overseen all aspects of Chelsea School’s literacy programming. In that time, she and her reading specialists have helped hundreds of dyslexic students to become independent, lifelong readers. This fall, Karen received the Altra Federal Credit Union Cash for Classrooms award after being nominated by a former student’s family. This family shared how Ms. Gallo changed the course of their son’s life for the better, and he is now pursuing a degree and a job that he loves.
In their nomination application, the family wrote, “Teaching reading to students with dyslexia is especially challenging, but doing so with creativity, humor, patience, & enthusiasm warrants special recognition. Chelsea School serves kids with learning differences and most have language-based learning challenges like dyslexia that frustrate them and make them feel stupid. Karen know these challenges for kids and uses evidence-based methods to help them read, and more importantly, believe that they can learn – the foundation for success in school.”
“If you listen to students who have been instructed by Karen, if fills your heart with joy and hope for kids who have felt hopeless in school. Its like a new lease on life for them. Student have the confidence they need to succeed and interact with their peers with that same confidence,” continued the family.
“What especially delights me about Karen is that she rejoices with each victory her students experience and the pride they gain with those victories. Karen leads a small team of reading teachers at Chelsea School with a firm grasp of all the techniques and approaches that make Chelsea students successful and go onto college. I know this because my son had her for a reading teacher and was 4-5 years below his grade level in reading. However, with Karen’s help and encouragement, our son improved his reading to be on par with his peers and he is about to finish college. There simply is no way for a parent, or a student for that matter, to thank a teacher enough for such a life changing gift. And, there are countless students at Chelsea who have benefitted from Karen’s instructions and who would sing her praises. She deserves our every thanks & public recognition of her amazing contributions as a reading teacher.”
Chelsea School’s faculty and administration, and our entire school community, echo these sentiments. Karen has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of our students by giving them the tools to be lifelong, independent readers. She is an inspiration for us all, and we are so grateful to have her as a Chelsea Knight! We love you Ms. Gallo!
US Forrest Service Fire Crew, Idaho, Summer 2021
Alex Navari, Chelsea School Class of 2014
This year’s forest fire season has been particularly daunting. Between January and October 2021, there were over 46,000 fires consuming almost 6 million acres of forest. Teams of firefighters from the US Forest Service have been dispatched to contain and extinguish these fires. It is an exhausting, dangerous, and mostly thankless job. One of Chelsea’s own is currently in the middle of all this, fighting these fires in an attempt to save our nation’s forests.
Alex Navari is a 2014 graduate of Chelsea School. After high school, Alex completed a gap year working in Alaska for the Bureau of Land Management. He then went on to earn a degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability from Eastern Mennonite University.
As part of a fire crew this year, Alex has spent 2-3 weeks at a time living in the woods in a tent, cabin, or lean-to. He spends long days working in an extremely challenging environment, battling heat, smoke, and exhaustion.
When asked about the impact that Chelsea School had on his life, Alex’s father commented: “Chelsea School believed in Alexander when other schools did not, or did not have the resources, staff and training to help children with reading-based leaning challenges. Today Alex applies his Environmental Science skills working for the US Forest Service on a fire crew protecting the nations precious forest including the sacred Sequoias which stand over 300 feet tall.” Chelsea School is incredibly proud of Alex for his service to our country and its natural resources.”
Alex standing in front of one the ancient sequoia trees he is trying to protect
Alex and his parents at graduation, 2014
