Top 5 Best Special Needs Schools in Fort Lee, New Jersey (2026)

Fort Lee High School gives students in grades 9–12 several ways to shape their studies on its Lemoine Avenue campus. The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme combines six subject areas and language study with an extended essay, Theory of Knowledge, and service and creative work. Students in the Academy of Finance take finance and business courses, connect with industry mentors, and complete a 160-hour summer internship. Some business courses offer dual enrollment through Fairleigh Dickinson University and Syracuse University. The Academy of Theatre Arts builds creative expression through performance and other arts work, while productions and school events bring students' work to audiences beyond class. These options let students pursue research, career experience, or the arts alongside a high-school education.

• High school
• Public school

Lewis F. Cole Intermediate School, the Fort Lee Public Schools building on Stillwell Avenue, serves the district's fifth and sixth graders. Our students are the Bridgemen. Each grade has its own school counselor, and a student assistance counselor works with students in grades 5 to 8. An on-site Child Study Team includes a school psychologist, a social worker and a learning disabilities teacher-consultant (LDTC). We run Section 504 plans, Intervention and Referral Services (I&RS) and a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS), and counselors teach the Second Step program and lead small student groups. Outside class, students can join clubs, the intermediate student council and school sports. Right at School provides before- and after-care for a fee, and our PTO organizes events such as the Halloween dance and the Haunted Hallway. A school nurse cares for students' medical needs on campus.

• Public intermediate school (grades 5-6)
• Public school

Fort Lee School No. 3 earned National Blue Ribbon School recognition in 2024. We are one of four elementary schools in the Fort Lee Public Schools, home of the Tigers. We are an active, community-based school whose program gives real weight to multicultural activities, citizenship, self-esteem, respect, and environmental issues alongside academics. Teachers use varied methods and assessments in all subject areas and build daily practice in critical thinking, cooperative learning, and decision-making. Monthly character themes, a Week of Respect, and Start With Hello Week shape the school culture. Students who need extra help are supported through the district's Multi-Tiered System of Supports, Intervention and Referral Services, and Section 504 plans, and our Title I program offers Rise Tutoring. The media center runs a Little Free Library, and clubs include robotics and programming and an art club.

• Public elementary school
• Public school

Fort Lee School No. 4 is a public elementary school in the Fort Lee School District, on Anderson Avenue, and our students are proud Bridgemen. Our school year builds character through Start With Hello Week, the Week of Respect, the Week of Peace, Red Ribbon Week, and our SADD chapter's food drives and Fill the Crib fundraiser. Our school counselor provides individual and small group counseling, classroom guidance lessons in character education, crisis intervention and referral services, and academic monitoring, and also coordinates standardized testing. The counselor serves as our anti-bullying specialist under New Jersey's Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act and works closely with the Child Study Team, and students who need more support are served through the district's Multi-Tiered System of Supports. A certified school nurse with a pediatric critical care background, a library media specialist, and an active PTA round out our school community. Each spring, student art and music join the district's Circle the Arts Festival at Fort Lee High School.

• Public elementary school
• Public school

Palisades Preschool & Kindergarten opened in Fort Lee in September 1965 as the Humpty Dumpty Nursery School, founded by Mary Ann and Richard Hubschman, and took its current name two years later. The family still runs it, and many alumni now bring their own children back to our Fort Lee campus, about a mile from the George Washington Bridge. Our approach borrows from the Bank Street School in New York City and from Reggio Emilia classrooms. Children learn through multi-sensory, hands-on work: manipulatives for early math, blocks, water and sand for early science, and painting, sculpting and dramatic play for language and fine motor skills. We offer a five-day program for 3-year-olds, half-day and longer Pre-K classes for 4-year-olds, and a Transitional Kindergarten for children who just make or just miss the public kindergarten cutoff. Weekly specials include Spanish, sports with a certified coach, music, creative movement, library, science and nature, art appreciation, cooking and computers. Before and after care is available, and our summer day camp serves children from 21 months to 8 years with heated pools and Red Cross certified swim instruction.

• Private preschool and kindergarten
• Reggio Emilia inspired
• Bank Street approach
• Family owned