School for Autistic Children Sought

Fairfax Officials Question Charter's Accountability, Standards

The Fairfax County School Board is considering a proposal from parents to form a charter school for autistic children, offering intense, one-on-one instruction in their earliest years of schooling.

The parents hope it will enable their children to go on to traditional classrooms and normal childhoods. But school officials, expressing concern about cost, accountability and effectiveness, are recommending that the board reject the plan or add several conditions, including providing assurances of a balanced budget and that organizers can provide the number of teaching hours proposed.

"There are legal issues for the county," said Thomas Brady, chief operating officer for Fairfax County schools. "Who does this independent public school charter report to? Do they meet state standards for special services?"

Parents, who will make a formal presentation at the board's work session tomorrow, say they have spent years fine-tuning the idea and studying the best ways to educate children with autism, a neurological disorder defined by problems with communication, behavior and social interaction. The application submitted to the county is the seventh draft of a 116-page document.

If approved, it would be the first charter school of any kind in Northern Virginia and just one of a handful in the state. Randolph Nicklas, chairman of the nonprofit group Parents for Autistic Children's Education (PACE), which developed the proposal, said he was aware of three charter schools for autistic children nationwide.

Charter schools, dubbed by advocates as "public schools of choice," operate independently of state and local regulations but are financed by the school systems in which they are based. Fairfax school officials said the district would incur more than a half-million dollars in start-up costs for the charter school. Nicklas said the school would qualify for federal and foundation grants, which would defray some of the start-up and operating expenses. Unlike many other charter schools, the one proposed for Fairfax would teach students at several locations.

Under the PACE proposal, the charter school would enroll as many as 60 students year-round from preschool to age 12 and disburse them among a half-dozen or so schools. One instructor would be hired for every student, and each would employ a teaching method known as "applied behavior analysis."

The method aims to make learning less frustrating for children by providing them with questions and answers at the same time. It also uses toys, nature and a child's surroundings to teach language and behavior. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. The annual cost per pupil is estimated at $40,000.

Fairfax schools use this approach to teach some autistic students, who often learn alongside children with other disabilities. But Colleen Oppenheimer, mother of an autistic child, said she wishes for more consistency and expertise. Her 7-year-old son, Clifford, attends elementary school in Reston.

"Every year that he's been in Fairfax, the autism program has changed," she said. "First they were half a day. Then they were full-day. His class size doubled. Then he was moved into a reduced [teacher-student] ratio class."

Years ago, Fairfax tried a pilot program using applied behavior analysis but dropped it because of the high cost and mixed results.

Of 10 students, two graduated to traditional kindergarten, recalled School Board member Tessie Wilson (Braddock), who has long been an advocate of the charter school.

"Does it help every child 100 percent? No," Wilson said. "But there were the two kids where the change in these children was nothing short of miraculous."

At a meeting Thursday night, School Board members peppered staff members with questions about the role of the individual public schools where the charter-school students would attend class. They worried about the school system's liability if children don't emerge from the charter school ready for inclusion in regular classrooms.

The parents' group says the program is worth the risk. "Every parent's hope is that their child will lose the diagnosis and look like any other typical kid," Nicklas said.