Menu
X
X
X
Bay Ridge Prep was established in 1998 by a team of educators and families led by Dr. Charles Fasano, the current Head of School. Dr. Fasano and his team, which included former Co-Head of School Dr. Michael Dealy, set out to create a school community that would put students first and prioritize the social-emotional well-being of each individual. Built upon the experience of its founders, the school continues to successfully carry out its mission by hiring, retaining and training faculty and staff who share in this educational vision.
In addition to founding Head of School Dr. Charles Fasano, the Bay Ridge Prep Board of Trustees is comprised of the following professionals who volunteer their time, skills and experience as board members. Collectively, the trustees work to ensure the school remains financially sustainable and has the ability to continue progressing.
Diane Baker, Parent ’16, ’18
Jason Calacanis
Ralph Fasano
Amar Kuchinad
Albert Solecki, Parent ’17, ’20, ’21
Robert Townley
Vincent Theurer, Parent ’17
Head of School Dr. Charles Fasano established Bay Ridge Prep in 1998 along with a team of educators and families devoted to creating a truly student-centered community. He has been involved in the field of education for over 35 years and, in addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of Bay Ridge Prep, Dr. Fasano also teaches sixth grade science, coaches the Middle School baseball team and can often be seen running alongside students during track practice.
Prior to Bay Ridge Prep, Dr. Fasano served as Headmaster of Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn. In just three years at Adelphi, Dr. Fasano and his administration dramatically increased the school’s enrollment, restructured the educational program and regained financial stability for the institution. Outside of Bay Ridge Prep, Dr. Fasano has served as an adjunct professor at Lehman College, Hunter College and Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. In 2014, Dr. Fasano was invited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools to serve on the commission that evaluates and guides other independent schools throughout their accreditation process.
His service to the community has included being an emergency medical technician with the B.R.A.V.O. volunteer ambulance organization and continuing to voluntarily run a karate program for Manhattan Youth, a non-profit organization that he founded original programs for over 35 years ago. Additionally, he has contributed to curriculum development for parochial schools serving low-income families.
In 2010, Dr. Fasano joined the founding board of the Shore Road Parks Conservancy and currently serves as president of the Conservancy. Through his volunteer work with Shore Road Parks, he has raised over $10 million for capital projects to improve parks throughout the Bay Ridge area and provide family-friendly community events. He has also recruited hundreds of volunteers to maintain and beautify five designated park areas on Shore Road.
A devoted husband and a proud father of two Bay Ridge Prep alums, Dr. Fasano holds a Doctoral degree and Professional Diploma in School Psychology from Fordham University and a Bachelor’s degree from New York University. He is a New York State licensed Psychologist and New York State certified special education teacher. He is an avid tennis player, biker, martial artist, Brooklyn Nets fan and 15-time New York City Marathon runner.
Dr. Michael Dealy
Co-Head of School, 1998-2021
Prior to his retirement in 2021, Dr. Michael Dealy was Co-Head of School and led the school alongside Dr. Charles Fasano. Dr. Dealy oversaw the Upper School, taught Upper School History and English courses and was part of the founding team of educators that were with Bay Ridge Prep since its opening day in 1998.
Prior to Bay Ridge Prep, Dr. Dealy served as Admissions Director and Guidance Counselor of Adelphi Academy of Brooklyn from 1995–1998. He was previously elected to New York City District 20 Community School Board for two terms in office, presiding over the School Board’s Committee on Special Education. As a licensed school psychologist with the New York City Department of Education, Dr. Dealy was a member of the first learning disabilities evaluation team for the city’s Committee on the Handicapped. During his time with Department of Education, he conducted training workshops for educators and evaluators on evaluation, diagnosis, individual educational planning and intervention for students with a variety of needs.
An adjunct professor at Fordham University, New York University and Queens College, Dr. Dealy has taught graduate courses in Learning Theories, Psychology of Learning, Advanced Projective Analysis, Advanced Rorschach Diagnostics, Crisis Intervention, Counseling Theories, Child and Adolescent Counseling, Advanced Applications of Counseling Theory and Family Therapy. He has done workshops on crisis intervention and stress management for several New York City hospitals, universities and New York City’s Emergency Medical Services.
Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) find it particularly difficult to concentrate on tasks, to pay attention, follow directions, modulate their energy, and control impulsive behavior. Some children only exhibit inattentive behaviors that make success at school difficult, while others also struggle with hyperactivity and impulse control. ADHD presents differently as children mature.
At Bay Ridge Prep we coach children every step of the way to utilize strategies to help them regulate attention and meet their goals.
Bay Ridge Prep helps children with attention difficulties by:
Dyslexia is a language-based learning-disability officially referred to as a “specific learning disorder in reading”. Children diagnosed with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read and can also struggle to organize written and spoken language, reading quickly enough to comprehend longer sentences and sections of text, spelling, and even memorizing number facts.
In classrooms where teachers lack training in effective reading instruction and knowledge about how students with dyslexia learn best, children can become discouraged, anxious, and unmotivated. Bay Ridge Prep’s teachers are highly trained in research-based approaches to help students overcome dyslexia and become more confident, engaged, and independent readers.
Children with reading challenges at Bay Ridge Prep receive:
We explicitly teach skills that build emotional and social intelligence which help students create healthy and constructive relationships in and outside of school.
We provide students the freedom and responsibility to pursue their interests through open ended projects, course selections and student-initiated clubs.
We emphasize innovation, creativity and practical application over acquiring rote knowledge that can be easily accessed on any digital device.
We build social responsibility through school-wide, student selected community service initiatives and projects.
We offer a full array of arts programs and dynamic electives including ceramics, graphic design, theater arts, music composition, band, chorus and studio art.
We value all athletes and celebrate team spirit and positive role-modeling in our championship athletic program.
We value all athletes and celebrate team spirit and positive role-modeling in our championship athletic program.
Students come to Bay Ridge Prep with a complex array of strengths and weaknesses, multiple intelligences, and a vast set of interests and passions. When designing schedules, we look at each student as an unique and evolving individual. There is no static track for children in our support programs.
Our dynamic scheduling includes:
It is very common for children diagnosed with ADHD to have executive functioning issues, but children without ADHD can struggle with weak executive functioning also. The simplest way to explain executive functioning difficulties is to look at how they impact a child’s day. For the most part, a child who has weak executive functions has difficulty with multitasking, taking notes while listening or reading, initiating activities, and /or moving from one step to another. Some children can also have trouble thinking flexibly. These children often overgeneralize new skills, have trouble thinking differently about new concepts, taking the perspective of others, correcting errors, and making course corrections when new information is introduced academically or socially.
Organizing time and materials can also be a challenge for children with weak executive functions. Forgetting books, losing assignments, and procrastinating when assignments require many steps or effort can also be commonplace.
Starting in the earliest grades we help students develop strategies and systems to manage time, attention, and materials that they can take with them into adulthood including:
The success of Bay Ridge Prep students starts with our passionate leadership and faculty. They are experts in their respective fields and animated by the school’s fresh approach to education. Their extensive training to support children with different learning needs both inside and outside of the classroom creates a culture where everyone belongs and everyone learns.
While it isn’t unusual to occasionally feel stress and worry at some point during their time in school, for some students typical school activities like making and keeping friends, public-speaking, managing assignments and test taking can become a source of great discomfort and anxiety.
To support students who experience higher levels of anxiety Bay Ridge Prep:
Writing is one of the most complex tasks students undertake on a daily basis in school. They need to juggle ideas, the content, genre, the perspective of the reader, the rules of grammar and spelling, and motor skills (forming letters or keyboarding). Students that have dyslexia, executive function and/or attention difficulties can find the writing process all the more burdensome.
To help students gain confidence, master skills, and maintain motivation when faced with a writing task Bay Ridge Prep provides intensive writing supports including:
Dyscalculia is a learning disability officially referred to as a “specific learning disability with impairment in mathematics”. Students diagnosed with dyscalculia have difficulty learning, understanding, and performing math tasks. Dyscalculia does not affect a child’s performance in other subjects like English or History. Some children who struggle with reading, executive functions, attention, and anxiety also have difficulty learning mathematics.
To increase student confidence and mastery in mathematics our school provides: