Wednesday, February 20, 2002
By KATHIE DURBIN, Columbian staff writer

Barring a miracle, a small private school in Vancouver that has given new hope to parents of children with autism will run out of money and close its doors March 1.

    Parents got the news Tuesday. "I'm just devastated," said Lauri Miller of Vancouver, whose son Steven is autistic.

    The Robertson School, a nonprofit corporation, opened in September 2000 in The Academy in downtown Vancouver. It educates children who learn normally and children with developmental disabilities side-by-side in small, well-staffed classrooms where students get plenty of individual attention.

    Director Susan Argens and her staff stress active, integrated learning and development of social as well as academic skills a crucial need for children with autism, a neurological disorder that impairs their ability to speak and establish normal contact with others.

    "We're looking at the whole child," Argens said on a recent tour of the school. "What is each child's pathway to success?"

    Enrollment at the Robertson School jumped from 11 to 35 in the first year despite the steep tuition $6,000 for typically developing students, $12,000 for special-needs students, and even more for children who require one-on-one instruction. Twelve of the school's 37 students are developmentally disabled. The school serves children in preschool through fourth grade.

    Financial wrangling

    Tuition covers only half the cost of operating the school.

    Rick and Jeanie Vashaw of Vancouver, parents of an autistic son, Nathan, provided start-up funding for the school and committed to continuing that support through January 2002. But Susan Argens said the Vashaws notified the school's board of directors late last spring that investment losses would make it impossible for them to keep that commitment.

    The school then launched a fund-raising campaign, organized mainly by a parents' committee. But some planned events, such as a benefit golf tournament, fell through. In January, the board had an emergency meeting and determined that it must raise $50,000 in each of the next four months to keep the school open through June. Parents were asked to contact relatives, corporate sponsors and others who might be able to help the school through its emergency.

    "We were down to a bare-bones budget where we could limp along until the end of the year," said board member Rosemarie Treece. "But then the fund development committee (members) decided that if they were going to ask people to contribute significant funds of money, they should have more of a say in how the school was run, and they should be on the board."

    Susan Argens and her husband, Bob Argens, the school's director of administration, balked at automatically rewarding donors with board positions.

    "We have not resisted having them on the board," she said. "We have resisted when ultimatums are given. ... Unless we know what they are able to offer to the board, what funding they are bringing, what changes they want to make, we can't make a commitment." Only the board itself has that authority, she said.

    Moneyless reality

    On Sunday, the board faced a hard reality: Its bank account was empty. Staff members would have to take pay reductions to get the school through the end of the month.

    On Tuesday, Susan Argens called parents and her staff of 16 to break the news that the Robertson School will close March 1. The school is on winter break this week.

    Lauri Miller was still reeling from the news. Her son Steven, a high-functioning autistic 7-year-old, is above grade level in math and reading but lacks social skills. That makes it hard for him to succeed in a public school classroom, she said.

    "The Robertson School has allowed him to be Steven and be around typically developing peers," she said. "The staff is there to help that happen. They know what Steven is all about. If he doesn't like the way someone writes the letter A, he might start yelling. They understand what Steven's behavior is telling them and how to get it under control."

    Steven received home schooling through the Camas School District as a preschooler, but Miller said she won't send him to public schools. She plans to investigate HomeLink, a program offered through the Battle Ground School District that offers free specialized curriculum services to children schooled at home.

    Jennifer Bennett of Portland enrolled her son Max at Robertson School in November after educating him at home for several years. In just three months, Max has made remarkable progress, she said.

    "He's wanting to be with other kids, learning from his environment, learning from other kids. Within a couple of weeks, we were seeing some really nice things that carried over at home. It's a perfect setting for him."

    Bennett said she will resume home schooling Max because there is no other program like the Robertson School in the Portland area. The Parkrose School District, Max's home district, lacks programs to meet his needs, she said.

    "It's not for lack of effort, but it's mainly just warehousing the kids, and that is not acceptable," she said.

    Rosemarie Treece has two autistic children, but they attend Camas public schools. She said she agreed to serve on the board of the Robertson School because it serves an urgent need.

    "Even though my children are high-functioning and can do fairly well in society, there are many others who have not achieved that level and have no other options," she said. "The public schools are doing their best to educate these kids, but the environment of a public school classroom is frightening to them the noise, the stimulation."

    No government help

    School districts are required to offer a free and appropriate education to all children, including those with developmental disabilities. Districts that don't offer such programs have been ordered by courts to pay for private programs. Those public dollars have kept some private programs solvent.

    But the Robertson School has not been certified by the state as a private education provider, in part because The Academy building does not meet the public access requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

    Susan Argens said the school, which rents space in The Academy for $6,000 a month, can't afford to build ramps, remodel restrooms and make the other changes required to achieve compliance.

    Argens said she will work closely with the families of all her students to help them find suitable programs. And she hasn't stopped hoping for a miracle.

    "We were very hopeful," she said. "But hope doesn't pay the bills."

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