A private therapeutic school in southern Vermont serving autistic students has essentially been warehousing kids without educating them 鈥� and overcharging the public school districts that send their students to them. Those are the this fall.
The I.N.S.P.I.R.E. School for Autism in Brattleboro remains open for now. But Vermont Education Secretary Zoie Saunders wrote to the school last week to warn them that the agency鈥檚 findings were 鈥渟ignificant and represent serious concerns.鈥�
The school is currently on probation. Saunders warned in her letter that if it did not soon show evidence that it had come into compliance with state rules, she would recommend that the State Board of Education suspend or revoke the school鈥檚 ability to receive publicly funded special education students.
School officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Therapeutic schools like I.N.S.P.I.R.E. serve a small but high-need population of students. All public schools are federally required to educate all students, but when students have disabilities they can鈥檛 accommodate, school districts will often pay tuition to specialized schools like I.N.S.P.I.R.E., which caters specifically to autistic children.
The school鈥檚 maximum capacity is 23 students, and it operates a year-round program. Two students from Massachusetts, 11 students from New Hampshire and four students from Vermont were enrolled when investigators visited in the fall.
The state began scrutinizing the school last spring, after former educators went to the state 鈥� and later, the press 鈥� with allegations that the school鈥檚 leaders had fired them for raising concerns internally about I.N.S.P.I.R.E.鈥檚 practices. After a few months of preliminary inquiries, the state opened a formal investigation in September, and sent a four-person team onsite in November. The investigative team鈥檚 report was finalized this winter, and provided to 开云体育 following a public records request.
The to deliver students a general education. Staff who were interviewed by state officials reported that I.N.S.P.I.R.E. offered an 鈥渁ttendance-based鈥� program and that students worked toward a 鈥渃ertificate of attendance,鈥� according to the report.
More from 开云体育: A school for children with autism in southern Vermont is under state investigation
The school鈥檚 leaders and instructors didn鈥檛 work with students 鈥渙n grades, credits, transcripts, or toward meeting graduation requirements,鈥� according to the report. Instead, they were hyper-focused on student conduct. Instructors told agency investigators in interviews that behavioral data was collected hourly and documented in an online application.
I.N.S.P.I.R.E.鈥檚 administrators admitted to state officials that they did not have a curriculum prior to the 2023-24 school year, when they hired a consultant to develop a program of study. But when state officials reviewed the school鈥檚 new curriculum, according to the report, they found that it had not been adapted to meet the needs of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Students of varying needs and abilities were left to flounder. One instructor told agency staff they were confused about why they were now being ordered to use a textbook 鈥� when some of their students could not read. And another student, who was 鈥渋dentified as intellectually gifted and talented,鈥� according to the report, was provided no formal content area instruction tailored to his needs. Instead, the student was reportedly allowed to 鈥渄esign lessons and challenge himself.鈥� Staff, according to agency investigators, were not provided guidance or training on autism-responsive lesson planning or classroom management.
Students also weren鈥檛 taking legally required state standardized tests, according to the report. In one meeting with state officials, Karen Steinbeck, then co-head of I.N.S.P.I.R.E., claimed that school districts had contacted the school to exempt their students from those tests. While four students enrolled by New Hampshire public school districts had indeed exempted their students, according to the report, districts in Vermont had not 鈥� and indeed, such exemptions are prohibited.
Investigators also found problems with the school鈥檚 financial practices.
, and the agency found that the school had been improperly charging school districts full freight 鈥� even when students weren鈥檛 attending for a full day. Under orders from state officials, the school returned nearly $136,000 to school districts in August.
When the agency鈥檚 team asked the school鈥檚 business manager, Daryl Bliss, to explain the school鈥檚 enrollment contracting and tuition billing practices, he replied he 鈥渉as them in (his) head,鈥� according to the report. Bliss did not respond to a request for comment.
Investigators noted in their report this wasn鈥檛 the first time the state had had to step in to correct the school鈥檚 billing practices.
鈥淕iven the number of previously provided technical assistance interventions regarding tuition rate reimbursements 鈥� the Investigation Team believes future compliance ... to be unreliable and unpredictable,鈥� the report鈥檚 authors wrote.
The report also made reference to prior attempts to bring the school into compliance around minimum course of study regulations. But state officials say they鈥檙e serious this time about demanding the school do better.
The school has been given two sets of deadlines 鈥� in April and October 鈥� to show that they鈥檙e developing proper coursework and adequately training staff.
