Gender-affirming LGBTQ+ high school to open in Berkshires Farming, the arts are specialty areas

Opening a therapeutic gender-affirming LGBTQ+ high school in the foothills of the Berkshires in Western Mass. comes from a very personal place for founders Allison Druin, Ph.D., and Ben Bederson, Ph.D.
The life and business partners are parents to two children, an 18-year-old college freshman and a 24-year-old graduate student.
Druin said their family’s journey inspired the creation of the school located on 300-acres of an old dairy farm in Cummington that is slated to open in the fall of 2025.
“Three years ago, we were struggling to find a therapeutic school that could support our kid who was proudly identified as being a part of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said. “He was hurting and yet still wanted to explore his identity. We looked for ...