The Mt. Pleasant Blythedale Union Free School District

Blythedale Children's Hospital is the only hospital in New York State with its own public school district on site, uniquely created to serve inpatients and Day Hospital patients at Blythedale Children's Hospital.

Contact information

Griselda Reyes, Principal

About Our Department

Mt. Pleasant Blythedale UFSD is a New York State public, special act school district, chartered in 1971 to serve the highly specialized needs of the patients of Blythedale Children’s Hospital. Children in grades K through 12, who require intensive rehabilitation and medical care, attend school either as inpatients or through Blythedale’s Day Hospital Program. There is also a preschool, special education program that accepts community Committee on Preschool Special Education (CPSE) referrals. Each day is a dynamic interplay of medical care, therapies, and education. All children receive daily medical and nursing care, physical, occupational and/or speech therapy, as well as appropriate medical consultation based on an individualized treatment plan. Education is a vital component of the rehabilitation program, and our multidisciplinary approach ensures that students receive coordinated services. Mount Pleasant Blythedale (MPB) offers them a comprehensive, public school alternative to homebound instruction.

Mount Pleasant Blythedale offers all New York State accredited diploma options, including Regents diplomas. There is also a General Educational Development (GED) preparation program for students ages 16 and up. All teachers are certified by New York State in special education, and either a secondary content area or elementary education. Teachers provide specialized learning environments to address the academic, social and emotional needs of students in small class settings. The instructional programs are congruent with the New York State Learning Standards and the Common Core Curriculum. They are designed to address Individualized Education Program (IEP) goals while simultaneously helping students to maximize their learning potential and work toward grade level standards and recognized secondary credentials. Special subjects, such as technology, art, music and library are also part of the school curriculum. The District is governed by the Regulations of the New York State Education Department.

Our Services

Mount Pleasant Blythedale is a public school district and New York State residents attend tuition free. Out-of-state students attend by referral from their home school districts. At the time of discharge, a comprehensive transition program helps students, parents and local school districts identify appropriate placement options. Even though they are patients in a hospital, children are encouraged to pursue the primary tasks of childhood and adolescence: having fun and growing emotionally, socially and academically.

Services provided in 32,000 square foot, state-of-the-art school building, attached to Blythedale Children’s Hospital

  • Experienced nursing staff
  • Differentiated instruction
  • Central Westchester location, convenient to the New York City boroughs, Long Island, and the lower Hudson Valley, including Putnam, Rockland, Orange and Dutchess counties
  • Medical supervision by Board-certified pediatricians and pediatric specialists
  • Largest hospital-based pediatric therapy department in New York State, with 75 full-time pediatric therapists (physical, occupational, respiratory, speech pathology and feeding)
  • MPB can accommodate 120 school-aged children and 24 preschoolers
  • Transportation is provided by the child’s home school district, by school bus or ambulette
  • Full-day program runs 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
  • Flexible schedule to accommodate intensive therapy regimens
  • Transition services to ensure successful return to community
  • Extended year/summer school programming
  • Parent support groups

Mount Pleasant Blythedale School includes a staff of 21 certified educators, a school psychologist, two guidance counselors and 23 teaching assistants and aides.

The Mt. Pleasant Blythedale UFSD Key Contacts

Profile photo for Emily Hersh, Ed.D.

Emily Hersh, EdD

Superintendent, Mt. Pleasant-Blythedale Union Free School District

Profile photo for Griselda Reyes

Griselda Reyes

Principal, Mt. Pleasant-Blythedale Union Free School District

Treatments We Support

With the only dedicated post-acute pediatric brain injury unit in New York State - specifically constructed to treat children and adolescents with brain injuries - and our expertly trained clinical team, Blythedale is uniquely positioned to provide the best environment for recovery.

As technology continues to advance, children with special needs are becoming increasingly more integrated into the world around them. Blythedale's comprehensive Assistive Technology program, one of only a few such programs in New York State, is opening doors for these children.

Blythedale is the only specialty children’s hospital in New York State with the capability of providing the highest level of medical care and rehabilitation for children recovering from complex medical conditions, including childhood cancers.

Blythedale’s commitment to the highest level of medical and rehabilitative care, and ongoing integration of the newest cardiac support technologies for medically fragile children, is evident in our Cardiac Rehabilitation program.

As an expert in helping medically fragile children achieve their highest potential, Blythedale is well-suited to help transition a child with multiple complex chronic conditions from hospital to home.

For children recovering from multiple traumatic injuries, extensive orthopedic surgery or complex surgery, Blythedale offers a highly specialized, integrated approach to care.

Blythedale is a center of excellence in treating children with complex burns and wounds. The goal of the complex wound rehabilitation team is to obtain maximum autonomy and functionality while maintaining the optimal integrity of the healing wound or grafts with scar control.

Blythedale is widely recognized as a leader in treating children with rare conditions, spinal cord injury, neuromuscular disorders including muscular dystrophy and other myopathies, neuropathies, motor neuron diseases and neuromuscular junction disorders as well as complex genetic syndromes.

Blythedale has a commitment to achieving the best outcomes for infants coming for intensive rehabilitation following Neonatal Intensive Care stays. With a staff of full-time neonatologists overseeing the care our infants, and the addition of neonatal fellows, Blythedale continues to push the boundaries of what post-acute neonatal care can provide to medically fragile infants.

At Blythedale Children’s Hospital, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, pediatric attending staff supports infants, children and adolescents prior to and following complicated transplant procedures including heart, liver, kidney, bowel, and even multi-organ transplants.

Blythedale’s Pulmonary Rehabilitation program is widely recognized as a national center of excellence due to the Hospital’s extraordinary success weaning fragile infants and children from respiratory support machines for an improved quality of life. Our parent training programs help ensure that caregivers are both confident and competent in caring for their child.

As the only pediatric specialty hospital in New York State, Blythedale Children’s Hospital has the ability to evaluate and treat complex feeding difficulties in children with a team of pediatric specialists who work exclusively with medically fragile children.