Bernadette Groh, public health nurse and Tamara Phillips, both parents of children living with autism, conceived Lionsgate Academy. They hatched the idea from being involved in helping to start an autism class at their synagogue, Bet Shalom. This involvement inspired them to take the next step and start a school for students living with autism in the greater community. Both women recognized the need and felt that the public schools could do a better job of educating their teenage children living with autism. It was the children that were not severely handicapped, but just needed some additional support or training that seemed to be slipping through the cracks in the traditional public schools. They had visited many of these other academies, spoke with many educators and experts in autism, researched in the library, and concluded to try a new approach.
Many in these experts in the fields of autism education, health, transition, employment, and research thought these two women were nuts; this was way too big of a task for two mothers of special needs children, with no particular background in children’s education, to take up. Nonetheless, they persisted in attracting enough interested members of the community to hold the first meeting in July of 2006.
At that meeting Steven Waisbren, a father of a teen with autism and a surgeon in the community, was appointed chair. Others attending included a retired school principal and director of special education, a coordinator of special education to charter schools, special education teachers, parents of children with autism, as well as an expert in starting up charter schools. Many of these people—Mary Griffths, Leslie Laub, Judy Mandile, Rick Phillips, Tamara Phillips, Mike Piersak, Johana Sand, Todd Schwartzberg, Jody Van Ness, Steven Waisbren, Wendy Watson—are still working with Lionsgate today. Over the next couple of months, other board members such as Michael Rieff and Michael Shapiro were recruited to add their expertise. The operating principals of the school were established: start small, focus on children that are “high functioning”, rely on experts in the field using research-based or best practice educational techniques, and maintain pristine finances.
With these operating principles in mind, the founding board developed the mission and vision statements. These statements were not just words, but were chosen to truly reflect the goals and vision for the school. The developers wanted to look at the big picture. The plan was not just to get the students from 7th grade to 8th grade, but focus where they will be at age 21, 25 and 40. Their goals were for the graduates of the school to go on to further education or find a good job, live independently and maintain meaningful relationships with others. These accomplishments were to be realized by developing a supportive environment between the families, school and the larger community. Thus, the families of Lionsgate students were to feel less isolated and more integrated into our society.
Yes, Lionsgate was conceived as a special school where the children may be segregated from their typical peers for some of the day. Still, the developers knew first-hand the “delusion of inclusion” that has been maintained in traditional public school settings. They also recognized the critical importance of getting these children out into the communities for internships or projects so that they will get exposure to the real world and learn to live and cope in an environment where there may be loud sounds, bright colors or strong odors.
The developers wanted the name of the school to reflect their mission as well as be sensitive to their particular needs. They liked the concept that secondary school is just a gateway to the rest of their lives. They also wanted a strong name that also touched them on a personal level. The two parents that conceived this endeavor, by coincidence, each have a child with autism named Ari. In Hebrew and in ArabicAri means courage, or lion. Thus, the name Lionsgate Academy was born.
The name and the idea of this school seemed to catch on. Others were either recruited or contacted the developers to join in the project. These included attorneys, advocates for children with autism, finance experts, information technologists, health care providers, and therapists who worked with children on the spectrum. Many of these same people were the parents of children with autism. Institutions and foundations also joined the cause: Autism Society of Minnesota, University of Minnesota, University of St. Thomas, Opportunity Partners, Courage Center, MacPhail School of Music, VSA Arts Minnesota, Welsch Companies and Border Foods.
Critical to the foundation of a charter school is finding a sponsor, who takes the actual responsibility for assuring that the charter school board meets its stated mission. The Adler Graduate School, whose president is a former school superintendent, was chosen because of their experience in sponsoring schools and for the mission match between the two organizations. Dennis Rislove, the president of the Adler Graduate School, has been a wonderful supporter of the mission and has even attended numerous seminars on Charter School administration to keep up to date with his responsibilities to Lionsgate Academy
While the board and partners were expanded, the 212-page application to the State of Minnesota was written. The Phillips and Waisbren/Groh families put up the majority of the initial $25,000 investment to hire Johana Sand, now assistant director of Lionsgate, to coordinate the organization and writing of the application. Each of the board members were assigned tasks to research and write particular portions of the application. Teaching methods were based on models of a few other schools in the country with a similar focus as well as via the advice of experts in autism education. Over 770 families living with a child with autism filled out a survey supporting the effort to build a school that may potentially help their child. This application was completed in July 2007, one year after the initial meeting to start the school. The application reportedly received with the highest rating of the 22 submitted and the acceptance was announced in October 2007. A few months later, the Minneapolis Star Tribune heard about the school and wrote a front-page article about the efforts. This article was picked up in the national media and reprinted in such papers as the Milwaukee Sentinel, Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post. Other organization started to spread the word. It became a bit “viral” and was included in on-line support groups and Google’s “Autism Alerts”. After that publicity, the founders were inundated with requests for more information.
The founders of Lionsgate did not seek outside support until the application was approved. Furthermore, Lionsgate was prohibited by law from obtaining its own 510c3 until the school was approved by the Minnesota Department of Education. Thus, the Autism Society of Minnesota agreed to serve as the fiscal agent until Lionsgate’s tax exempt paperwork cleared in the fall of 2009. The developers of Lionsgate enjoyed this relationship with the Autism Society because of their excellent financial controls and because of the cachet of being supported by such a respected group.
Once the application was approved, the founding board had the vexing task of finding suitable location for the school. Richard Friedrichs, a vice president for the Welsch Companies, volunteered his time and helped us find a wonderful partner to house the school. The Cornerstone Church used to be a middle school until the church purchased it several years ago. This 12 acre site looks and feels like a school, because that it what it was designed for. The site was particularly attractive to the developers of LGA because the church saw that working with families with disabilities is part of its mission.
As the building was being found, LGA began to hire staff and recruit families. Many of the tasks had to happen all at once and were dependent on each each other: staff and families would not commit to the school until they knew where it was to be located. They had to find busing. The bus companies could not commit until they knew where the students lived and what the hours of the school would be. The staff did not know what what the staffing needs were to be until they knew just what the needs were of the students. Everything had to fall into place at once.
As noted above, the board’s first hire was Johana Sand as start up coordinator. She had been in the charter school movement for about a dozen years and helped start up over 10 schools. The second hire was Jody Van Ness, who is both an educator and mother of a young man living with autism. They went on to hire a terrific staff including regular and special education teachers and aides, social workers, nurse and behavioralists. The founding board recognized that the school was to be only as good as the individuals it hired. At the beginning of the year, we thought we would have about 17 staff at Lionsgate. By the end of the first year it was up to 42 for 70 students.
Thus, on September 2nd 2008 Lionsgate Academy opened its doors for an initial matriculating class of 70 students. Although many more than 70 students sought admission to the school, the founding board stuck with their strategy of starting small and building upon success.
The developers of Lionsgate recognized that starting and maintaining a school is a process. To that end, the educators at Lionsgate have continually re-vamped and improved the program. The staff receive continuous training in educational techniques. The board has received grant money to bring in new educational programs and facilitate family programming, after school activities, community outreach. To date, the major contributors have been the Luther Family Foundation, Phillips Foundation, and the Pohald Family Foundation, and the Norqual Family Foundation.
These generous donors have recognized that that Lionsgate academy will evolve and will change and have supported this growth. LGA is formally studying its educational techniques and measuring its ability to meet its goals. We are evaluating math, reading and life skills. Furthermore, we are partnering with our community partners at the University of Minnesota and St. Thomas University to answered important questions: Are graduates of LGA getting jobs or furthering their education? Do they live independent lives? Are they ending up in jail or having unplanned pregnancies? How do these outcomes compare with traditional educational programs for similar students?
We had many changes during our first two years—as we got to know the students’ needs and experimented with our programs. Unfortunately, one change we had not planned on was the resignation of Jody Van Ness, the executive director, at the end of the first year. Although in many aspects she enjoyed her work at LGA, she found she found the job of running a first-year school very demanding and could not spend enough time at home with her own family.
Hence, Lionsgate went on an exhaustive search to find a replacement for Ms. Van Ness. The School Board was delighted to recruit Stan Hacker out of retirement to serve as the executive director. He had been a math teacher, athletic coach, school administrator and school board chair before coming to LGA. Since Stan’s arrival for the 2009-2010 school year the school has grown to 95 students with 135 planned for 2010-2011 academic year. Cornerstone Church, our landlord, have been extremely accommodating to our increased needs for space. The Minnesota Department of Education has been a true partner in developing this innovative school as we grow. We continue to have about 70 students on the waiting list to matriculate.
Besides overseeing the growth of LGA, Mr. Hacker has formalized the administrative structure, assured accountability for all teachers and staff, improved the process of developing and complying with the IEP’s and further enhanced the sense of community between students, parents, staff and the school board
Nonetheless, there is still much work to be done. To that end, all of those at LGA are studying what works and what does not. They see that Lionsgate academy will evolve and will change. LGA is formally study its educational techniques and measuring its ability to meet its goals. Besides examining test scores and meeting IEP goals, the LGA staff are asking bigger questions: Are graduates of LGA getting jobs or furthering their education? Do they live independent lives? Are they ending up in jail or having unplanned pregnancies? How do these outcomes compare with traditional educational programs for similar students?
As we are finishing our second year of existence, the response from our families has been, for the most part, superlative. Parents have written countless “thank you” notes to our staff and teachers. The growth in the social skills and sense of community are apparent to all who have been a part of the process. The educators have been thrilled to be supported by their school board and families. We have also received some really good press from the both the local CBS (WCCO) and NBC (KARE) affiliates.
Of course, the next chapters in our history have yet to be written. Our goals are clear: Graduates of Lionsgate academy will, to the fullest extent possible, move on to further education or gainful employment, live independently, and have meaningful relationships with others.
We welcome you to part of this process.
Steven J. Waisbren, M.D., Ph.D.
Chair Founding Board
Lionsgate Academy
