Soundline School · A new private middle school · Grades 6–8 · North Shore, Long Island
Soundline School is a new middle school. And it is not school as usual.
Every morning there are two hours of math, reading and writing, at your child’s own level. The rest of the day is classes, labs and real projects. Every adult in the building knows your kid. Soundline is a private school for grades 6, 7 and 8, opening September 2027 on Long Island’s North Shore, most likely in Port Jefferson Station. Is your child younger or older? Get a reminder call.
What makes this school different.
Each child works at their own level, with a guide (our word for a teacher) at the table. A kid who is ahead moves ahead. A kid who is behind gets caught up. Nobody waits, and nobody gets left.
Science lab, history, books, art and music. Every six weeks your child finishes a real project and shows it to the people it was made for.
There are ten to twelve students in a grade. One adult stays with your child for all three years, and knows what they are good at and what is hard for them.
You know your kid. School should too.
If one of these sounds like your house, this school was built for you.
- Bored. They finish early and wait for the class. Here they move on the day they are ready.
- Behind, and nobody noticed. Here a guide sits with them every morning, knows exactly what they can’t do yet, and works on it with them.
- Doing fine, and that’s all. Good grades, no spark. Here they build things for real people and explain them out loud.
- Lost in the crowd. Here there are ten to twelve kids in a grade, and the same adult looks out for yours for three years.
Students with IEPs keep their district services, and we help you ask for them. Soundline is not a religious school.
Nobody knows what work will look like when your child is thirty.
So we teach what will matter no matter what. By the end of eighth grade, a Soundline student can do six things.
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Learn something hard.
And show they really know it, not just that they sat through it.
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Make something new.
A video game, a robot, a short film, a song. Finished, on a deadline, for a real person in town.
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Think it through in writing.
Clear writing is clear thinking. They write every day.
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Stand up and explain it.
Every six weeks, in front of adults who ask questions. No slides.
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Do something for their town.
One project a year is for the community they live in.
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Know what they are good at.
And have a folder of real work that proves it.
What about AI? We teach it as a subject, so kids learn to use it well. It is never allowed to do their thinking for them.
What a school day looks like.
School runs 8:30 to 3:00, Monday to Friday.
Math, reading and writing.
We call it practice. Each child works at their own level, with a guide at the table. It is hands-on. The only screen in the room is the guide’s.
Classes, labs and projects.
We call it making. History, literature and science are taught by a person, with books, not by an app. There is lunch, time outside, and the arts every day.
Then they show it.
Each project lasts six weeks and is made for a real person in town. At the end your child stands up and explains it. No slides.
Extended Day.
A lesson at 3:15, then a homework desk until 5:30. It costs $330 a month, and you only pay if you use it.
Yes, it’s a real school.
It is different on purpose. It is still a school, and it answers to New York like any other.
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Every subject New York requires.
Math, English, science and history every year, plus art, music, PE and health.
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Five days a week.
You enroll your child and that’s it. There is no homeschool paperwork. Homeschooling families can come three days a week instead.
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Every adult is background-checked.
Fingerprinted through New York State, with a state and FBI check, before they start.
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We answer to New York.
We register with the state, and the district reviews what we teach. We are not accredited yet. That starts once we are open.
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And it is new.
Our first students start in September 2027, so we have no results to show you yet. We can show you the plan, the people, and the day, hour by hour.
The people starting it.
Nicole Galante, Ph.D.
An educator for over twenty years. She started as a classroom teacher, coached teachers in New York City schools for more than fifteen of them, and led the state team that wrote New York’s Quality Remote and Hybrid Teaching Framework and its Handbook for Virtual Schools.
Adam King
A musician and teacher. He designs and runs music and STEAM programs for libraries across Long Island (escape rooms, instrument labs, world percussion) and teaches private lessons. He’ll know your child by Wednesday.
Gina Dimichino
For more than thirty-five years she has taught dance to North Shore kids, many of them right at this age, and she has run businesses here her whole life, including her own salon. She makes sure every family feels seen, and handles every detail in between.
Izzy Galante
Designs how the school teaches: what comes first, how we know a child is ready to move on, and how we know it worked. Co-wrote New York’s Quality Remote and Hybrid Teaching Framework and its Handbook for Virtual Schools. Teaches a live class every week.
We are hiring a math and science guide and a humanities guide for September 2027. You will meet them before the first day.
What it costs.
The price is published, all of it. There is no application fee and no materials fee.
The full school.
Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 3:00. You enroll, and that’s it.
For homeschooling families.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We call it the Collaborative. You stay your child’s teacher, and we hand you course descriptions and hours logs for your district reports.
Founding families keep their price for as long as their child is enrolled. Tuition is paid monthly, over twelve months.
How to start.
We are signing up our first families now. We call them Founding Families, and they get the lower price for good.
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1
See it first.
Free Saturday builds for ages ten to thirteen, most Saturdays from November 21. Your kid builds something with Adam and explains it to the room. You watch.
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2
Call us.
Twenty minutes on the phone with one of the four of us. Ask anything, including about money.
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3
Look at the price.
All of it is published. You see what it costs before anyone asks you for anything.
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4
Hold a seat.
$500 holds your child’s seat. It is kept by an independent escrow agent, not by us. You get all of it back, for any reason, until the day we sign a lease.
We set it up with you on the call.
“This is the answer to my prayers for my daughter.”
Founding families help shape the school.
They sit on the Family Council. The Council helps pick the projects students take on, and brings people from town into the school. It does the fun things. It never fundraises.
Each grade has ten to twelve seats. They fill in the order families reserve. We will tell you where you stand before you pay anything.
- Reserved seats at every student show.
- A first look at each new project before it starts.
- Brothers and sisters go first when a grade fills.
- Your family’s name on the founders’ wall.
Questions parents ask.
Is this a real school or a homeschool program?
It is a school. Your child is enrolled here five days a week, we teach every subject New York requires, and you file no homeschool paperwork. We also run a separate three-day program for families who homeschool.
What subjects are taught?
Math, English, science and history every year, with art, music, physical education and health. Math, reading and writing happen every morning at each child’s level. History, literature and science are taught around a table and in the lab.
Do students take the state tests?
Yes. The state tests are in the spring and take three mornings. We do not do test prep. New York uses the tests to check that a new school is teaching what it should. All year long you will also see how much your own child has grown, three times a year.
What happens after eighth grade?
Ninth grade opens here in September 2028, then a grade every year through twelfth. Your child can stay, or move on with a folder of real work that shows what they can do.
Where will the school be?
On the North Shore, along the Miller Place–Port Jefferson Station corridor. Port Jefferson Station is the likeliest. We announce the address the day we sign the lease.
How do I apply?
Ask for a call. It is twenty minutes with one of the four of us, and there is no application fee. If it’s a fit, $500 holds a seat, and the enrollment contract follows.
What if the school doesn’t open?
You get your money back. Your $500 is kept by an independent escrow agent, not by us, and it comes back in full, for any reason, until the day we sign a lease. If the school doesn’t open after that, we mail you a check.
Will our district bus my child?
Most likely. New York districts bus students to private schools up to fifteen miles away. You ask your own district by April 1, and we send you the request already filled in.
Is your child younger, or older?
We open in September 2027 with grades 6, 7 and 8. If the timing is not right for your child, tell us, and we will call you when it is.
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Younger than sixth grade.
A new sixth grade starts every September. Sign-up for September 2028 opens in August 2027. Tell us what grade your child is in now, and we will call you before sign-up opens for their year.
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Thinking about a later year.
Tell us the year you have in mind. We will call you before sign-up opens, and tell you whether your child’s grade has a seat.
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High school.
Ninth grade opens in September 2028, and we add a grade every year after that, through twelfth. That means we will not have a grade for students who are in eighth grade or higher this school year.
Prefer to talk? We’ll find a time.
Twenty minutes on the phone with one of the four of us. Ask anything, including about money.
The button opens an email to hello@soundlineschool.com with four lines to fill in: your name, the best number, good times to reach you, and your child’s grade next September. One of the four of us calls you back.
Prefer to start in writing? Take the survey.