Tribeca Community School Opens First Connecticut Campus In Ridgefield

“I grew up in Ridgefield, so bringing Tribeca Community School to my hometown is deeply meaningful to me,” Schachtel said. “Over the past twenty years, we’ve built a school in New York that families trust because it treats childhood with the seriousness and respect it deserves. We’re excited to bring that same philosophy to a community that values education, the arts, and strong family connections.”

Schachtel told Patch he spent the first 10 years of his life in Ridgefield and has “incredibly happy memories” of growing up in town. He said opening an early childhood school in the place where he spent his own early childhood was “very special.”

Schachtel said Ridgefield also made sense for practical reasons. He said the town has young families and demand for the kind of full-day, year-round early childhood programming the school offers.

“We kept hearing a lot of the same things, which is that they really want a thoughtful educational experience for their child, also wanting a school that actually works with their schedules and being open full day, all year round,” Schachtel said.

The Ridgefield campus is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Schachtel said. He said the school expects to start with about 30 children and could serve about 140 at full enrollment.

The Ridgefield program is a blend of child care and early education rooted in the Reggio Emilia philosophy. It offers full-day, year-round programming with half-day and part-week options.

The Grove Street building stood out because it is close to the center of town, has parking and outdoor space, and offered the kind of natural light the school wanted, Schachtel said.

“When you come into the space, you would think that we built it to be a preschool, but it just happened,” Schachtel said. “We happened to find it, so it was a great opportunity. We didn’t have to build from the ground up.”

The campus includes light-filled classrooms, learning materials, art and atelier spaces, and indoor and outdoor areas for movement, collaboration and creative exploration.

Melissa Barissi, program director of TCS Ridgefield, will lead the new school.

“The relationships children build with their teachers, classmates, materials, and environment become the foundation for everything that follows,” Barissi said in a news release. “Our goal is for every child to feel seen, heard, respected, and capable. When children know their ideas matter, they develop the confidence to ask questions, solve problems, and discover who they are as learners.”

Schachtel said the school expects to have about 40 employees at full staffing. It is starting with about 10 teachers, a mix of full-time and part-time staff, he said.

He said the school is hiring locally, with staff coming from Connecticut and New York. The Ridgefield administrative team includes a program director, assistant director, atelierista and pedagogy lead, and family services coordinator.

The school’s Reggio-inspired model does not follow a single fixed curriculum. Instead, teachers observe children, ask questions and build learning experiences around children’s interests and investigations.

Schachtel said teachers may come to the school with different kinds of training or experience, including similar programs or study in Italy. But he said the school also looks for educators whose view of children matches its philosophy.

“It’s more of a, 'do you follow this kind of way of viewing children and the way of working with children?'” Schachtel said.

Although many enrolled families are from Ridgefield, Schachtel said the school has also received interest from Wilton, Pound Ridge and Danbury.

Tribeca Community School was founded in Manhattan in 2006. The school began as a small preschool serving one classroom and has grown into an early learning community focused on collaborative teaching, classroom design and relationships with families.

Schachtel said the long-term goal in Ridgefield is to build the kind of school community TCS has developed in New York, with families and educators sharing a vision for early childhood education.

“What's been successful about our program in the city is that it's attracted community beyond our walls, and so people come from all over the world looking at our program.”

If TCS can capture lightning in a bottle this second time, Ridgefield may be a stepping stone into Connecticut.

“We felt like this was the natural first place to open, and then we will see from there if there are other communities that we feel this can work in,” Schachtel said.