Franklin Academy is a college preparatory boarding school in East Haddam, Connecticut, United States, serving students in grades 8–12 and post-graduate pre-college who have an "auditory learning style preference". The school's primary mission is to serve adolescents and young adults with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD), autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and Asperger's syndrome.The headmaster, or as he is nicknamed, "Fredmaster", of Franklin Academy is Fred Weissbach. The school officially opened in September 2003 with 33 students and enrolls approximately 80. The academy is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.HistoryFranklin Academy was incorporated in 2001 and opened with 33 students in 2003. The founding administrative team was Fred Weissbach (headmaster), Tom Hays (educational director), Mary Murphy (residential director), Cindy Pope (admissions director), and Lee Barsom (director of operations). In 2007, Rebecca Hays (clinical director) joined the administrative team.As the school has grown, they have developed and continually modified a team structure. Each team has a learning specialist, a counselor, a residential dean, a math teacher, science teacher, and two Humanities teachers. Students on each team live together and take classes together, except for electives and some math courses. In 2006, they created the Level 3 program, also known as Team D, to help students transition to college. The other teams were broken into A (all non-Level 3 girls), B (younger boys, and some older boys who needed additional structure), and C (older boys). In 2009, they created the Franklin Learning Institute (FLI). Initially, with 3 students, it was exclusively a college transition program. In 2010, FLI merged with Team D. In 2012, the girls were split into Team A (for younger girls) and Team B (for older girls). Team C was renamed to serve younger boys, with Team D serving older boys, and FLI remaining the college transition program. In 2013, Team A was eliminated because fewer girls were applying. All the girls are currently on Team B. The school has maintained a 2:1 student to faculty ratio.