BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—Two Windham County special education teachers are part of a group that is hoping to open this fall a school for autistic students between the ages of 14 and 22.
Carol Ortlip and Stephanie Betit said they had two students ready to enroll and were hoping to start the coming school year with eight students. The plan is to increase the number of students each year until they reach a full enrollment of 25.
"At this point the students we have been working with are outgrowing the elementary school programs," said Betit, a special education teacher at Marlboro Elementary School. "We are all ready to pursue this dream."
The independent private school would be called An Integrated School Program for Independence, Relationships, and Entrepreneurship, or INSPIRE for Autism in Guilford.
Ortlip and Betit said they had received a major grant and were awaiting accreditation from the Vermont Department of Education. At a meeting last week, they would not reveal the source of the grant.
Kathy Vranos, who lives in western Massachusetts and is the parent of an autistic son, and her husband are working with Ortlip and Betit to start the school. She says there's a gap in autism education in the region.
"This is going to be a community effort and it will use all that is special about Western New England," said Vranos.
The plan is to open the school in a farm house that will eventually be expanded to 6,500 square feet.
The tuition has not been set, but Bill Vranos estimated it would be about $40,000.
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Information from: Brattleboro Reformer
