Opened in September 1995, the Ridgefield Alternative High School  is located in what was once the Spotlight Theater Building on Gilbert Street. The school accepts 20 students annually who apply each spring, offering an inclusive and dynamic environment to help develop students into thoughful and self-directed learners and thinkers. Students graduate with a Ridgefield High School diploma and go on to attend schools like Dartmouth, Fordham, FIT, Eugene Lang, Berkley School of Music, Pratt Institute of Art, UMASS, UCONN, Johnson Culinary Institute of America, SUNY Purchase, NYU, Emerson, Smith and more.