A private school that replaces teachers with artificial intelligence and compresses academics into two hours a day plans to open a Greenwich campus in time for the fall semester, charging $65,000 a year for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Alpha School, an Austin, Texas-based network operating in 15 states, confirmed the Greenwich location on its admissions website, with enrollment open for the 2026-27 school year. The campus would be the network's second in the Northeast after New York City.

Alpha School co-founder MacKenzie Price told Town & Country that about five Greenwich families reached out in early spring asking how to bring Alpha to town. "I had about five families reach out to me early this spring and say, 'You know, what can we do to bring Alpha to Greenwich?'" Price said.

Social media posts circulating among Greenwich parents place the campus at 20 East Elm Street, the former Saks Fifth Avenue shoe store. Alpha's official site has not confirmed the exact address.

At Alpha, students complete all core academics through one-on-one AI tutoring sessions of about 25 minutes each, finishing math, English, science and social studies by lunchtime. The school has no teachers. Instead, adult "guides" provide motivation and emotional support while a proprietary AI engine called Incept, developed by billionaire software entrepreneur Joe Liemandt, generates personalized lessons for each child.

Afternoons are devoted to what Alpha calls "life skills" workshops covering financial literacy, public speaking, teamwork and entrepreneurship.

Price, a Stanford psychology graduate who developed the model roughly 12 years ago, said the AI platform outperforms human instruction. She acknowledged the approach feels "radically different from what we've all known" but said the school's personalized learning system is "doing a much better job of teaching the student than even a human can."

Brooke Parker, an independent kindergarten and pre-K admissions counselor, told Town & Country she has been fielding questions from Greenwich parents since news of the campus broke. Parker said she expects the town's hedge fund and finance community to be particularly drawn to Alpha because they "see the future in AI and teaching children skills not typically taught in a school."

Not everyone is sold. Kristen Quick, a Greenwich High School parent, told Connecticut News12 in July: "I'm not sure how I feel about AI, I'm a little scared of it."

The model has drawn scrutiny elsewhere. Pennsylvania's Department of Education rejected Alpha's proposals in 2025 over concerns about the accuracy of its AI instructional model. In Lexington, Massachusetts, where Alpha sought School Committee approval this summer, members questioned how the curriculum develops critical thinking skills.

Alpha's arrival lands as Greenwich Public Schools projects enrollment will dip to about 8,270 students in 2026-27, down from 8,319 last October. Roughly 26% of Greenwich's K-12 school-age residents already attend private schools in Connecticut, according to GPS enrollment data, and district figures show a pattern of families leaving for private options during middle school.

Separately, the public school board lost two members last week. BOE Chair Michael-Joseph Mercanti-Anthony and Secretary Wendy Vizzo Walsh resigned effective Friday, Aug. 7, leaving two vacant Republican seats weeks before the Aug. 28 first day of school. The Greenwich Republican Town Committee is vetting candidates to fill both positions.

Alpha's national tuition ranges from $40,000 to $75,000 depending on location. The network plans to open 26 additional campuses nationwide this year, including two in Boston.