Dear Friends,
Thank you for visiting the Seneca Academy website. We welcome prospective students, parents, teachers, and others to explore our programs, philosophy, and goals.
I hope you get a sense of our dynamic learning opportunities, beautiful building and campus, and energetic students. This year we have approximately 150 students in preschool through fifth grade. They represent the diverse population of our area and live in the surrounding communities of Clarksburg, Boyds, Poolesville, Gaithersburg, Germantown, North Potomac, Bethesda, and Rockville, as well as Darnestown.
When you visit our campus, you will see how engaged our students are on a daily basis in their learning activities and the strong positive sense of friendly community that permeates our environment. Children and adults work together on projects and activities that allow students to explore, create, and question concepts while giving them a strong foundation of basic knowledge. There is evidence of transdisciplinary learning on our walls, tables, and bulletin boards as you observe our writing, drawings, and projects. You can observe the products of our extension curricula by the variety of artwork displayed, the creative team-building games being played in P.E., and our students speaking Spanish and making music. During your visit we will show you our National Wildlife Federation Certified Schoolyard Habitat: 6 ½ acres of outdoor classroom. Throughout our school you will see considerate, thoughtful children meeting behavioral expectations because they are explicitly taught how to follow directions, interact socially, and become independent.
Our faculty/staff is an amazing group of engaged, energetic, and dedicated people focused on best practices in education. They are the backbone of the school and are incredibly well-educated and experienced. Most importantly they are role models of lifelong learners, as they continually expand their knowledge. I am privileged to be working with them.
Seneca Academy has been called the “hidden gem of Montgomery County.” I invite you all to take a virtual tour and contact us for more information!
Welcome to the Seneca Academy village,
Dr. Karen Tyler
ktyler@senecaacademy.org
About Dr. Tyler
Dr. Karen Tyler began her service as head of school in 2025, coming to Seneca Academy from Erie Day School, a coeducational preschool to middle school in Erie, PA. She spent her early years in the classroom as a kindergarten and first grade teacher in Pennsylvania public schools before becoming a kindergarten – sixth grade literacy coach and reading specialist and then a kindergarten – eighth grade special education literacy coach. Dr. Tyler has an International Baccalaureate educator certification in teaching and learning for the Primary Years Program and Middle Years Program. Her professional activities include long service at Pennsylvania Western University’s Edinboro campus, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as an assistant professor, graduate reading program head, graduate dyslexia interventions program head, and reading clinic facilitator. Dr. Tyler went on to earn her Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Recent professional publications include topics as diverse as early intervention for dyslexia and encouraging social justice among educators. She has also presented on these topics and others, largely literacy-based, on the national, state, university, and community levels.
