Press

In the spring of 2020, the West Central Association – Chamber of Commerce (WCA) interviewed Cameron Smith, Bennett Day School CEO and Co-Founder.

Before the Governor made the decision to close all Illinois schools, Bennett Day had already made the difficult decision to close effective end-of-day (6:00pm) on Friday, March 13.

It is the school’s steadfast view that even just one child, parent, grandparent, teacher, or administrator in harm’s way is now too many.

Parents want to give their children the best start. That’s why many families opt for a private school education.

But parents may not consider private schools because of some commonly held myths. Here are five misconceptions about private schools along with the myth-busting realities.

After becoming parents, Cameron Smith and his wife began thinking about their son’s education. Smith concluded that there weren’t many options for progressive, independent schools in Chicago and found that many families move to the suburbs when their kids reach school age, even when they would prefer to live and work downtown. That led to his starting Bennett Day School, an independent K-12 school in West Town.

Bennett Day School was featured on WBEZ Morning Shift’s “What’s That Building?” series.

“At the corner of Grand and Morgan in West Town stands a connected pair of five-story buildings — one a commanding red-brick and the other a contemporary brick, metal and glass. Together, their histories illustrate how the surrounding neighborhood has changed over the last century.

The private Bennett Day School moved into the older building in 2016 and the newer building is an expansion that’s set to open this fall. But before it was a private school with a new wing, the building offered gathering spaces and educational services to families in need.”

Creative content platform, Fupping, recently featured Bennett Labs’ Story Dealer cards as one of their top ten gifts to give kindergartners.

“Going from daycare to school is a rough transition for most kids…there’s a lot for kids to enjoy about kindergarten. And you and the rest of the parents can help with this transition by throwing a party for the kindergarten class to enjoy! It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it absolutely must have gifts. Don’t know which? Take a look at the best gifts to give to a kindergarten class right here.”

Martin Moran, Director and Lead Designer of Bennett Day Upper School, discusses the value of competency-based assessment.

“…times have changed. In the last 10 years, a school’s ability to dig deep into the specific skill sets of students and provide meaningful information about their strengths and challenges has grown dramatically. Through competency-based education, we can now provide more relevant, personal assessment for each student and use that assessment to truly develop an equitable model of student success—as long as we are willing to accept innovation.”

Bennett Day School is a progressive school whose mission is to provide a collaborative culture that nurtures children’s innate sense of inquiry & curiosity. Cameron Smith is the Co-founder & CEO. He is a licensed attorney who didn’t like what he saw when looking for a school for his kids, so he took action and launched Bennett Day in 2014. It now has over 200 students and growing.

“‘Social media is not going away,’” says Martin Moran, lead designer and director of the upper school at Bennett Day School, Chicago. Teaching kids about social media is like teaching fish about water, he says. “‘Social media is everywhere.’”

Bennett Day School conducts official outreach to the wider community using several social media sites, including Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. The school currently offers pre-kindergarten-4th grade. A high school program opens next year. A lower grade is also being added each year. The school is in the West Loop and has 190 students.”

“Martin Moran discusses how to create a high school where adolescents can be creative and motivated. Lead designer and Director of the Upper School at Bennett Day School in Chicago This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.”