Room to flourish

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LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Today is Wednesday, May 27th. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Lindsay Mast.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: classical education for students with disabilities.

Classical schools have grown rapidly over the last decade. But for families of students with moderate to severe disabilities, finding a school that fits can be difficult.

MAST: That’s left some families with few options. So in Wichita, Kansas, one mother decided to build the kind of school she could not find.

WORLD’s Lauren Dunn has the story.

STUDENTS: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic…

LAUREN DUNN: It’s Friday morning, and, like many other schools around the country, Joy Academy starts the day with the pledge.

AUDIO: [Class sings “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”]

But it doesn’t take long to notice some differences. 

For one thing, there are only 11 students, gathered around a big table in what used to be a house. Latin phrases in students’ handwriting decorate the walls. And all of these students have disabilities or learning difficulties.

BLACK: We have three students with Down syndrome. I have one student with a genetic disorder called Coffin Syndrome…

Maggie Black is founder and principal at Joy Academy.

BLACK: We have one student with autism, a couple with ADHD. Two of our students have Fragile X syndrome…

Black and her husband Josh helped start the Classical School of Wichita, which meets at the church across the street, 20 years ago. 

But when they adopted their daughter Diamond and realized she had serious learning needs that the classical school couldn’t accommodate, they enrolled her in public school. That worked well—for a while...

BLACK: We cannot send our daughter who really functions more, you know, socially, emotionally, academically, like a first or a second grader, we can't send her to a school with 2,000 students just to kind of like, hope she does okay, and hope she catches truth, or whatever.

The Blacks wanted a school that could combine classical education’s emphasis on truth, beauty, and goodness and natural developmental sequence, with the accommodations Diamond needed. 

Then, a friend offered a solution:

BLACK: He said to Josh, we were talking about this, he's like, why don't you just start a school for Diamond? And we thought, "Can we do that?"

Black got in touch with a classical education advocate who wrote a book and curriculum for children with disabilities. Then, in fall 2023, Joy Academy began with two students: Diamond and a boy named Cooper.

AUDIO: [Cooper talking about school]

Today, Cooper and his younger brother Camden attend the school. They both have Fragile X syndrome. Their parents, Danny and Katie Back, say the genetic disorder affects the two boys differently.

DANNY: Cooper's biggest hurdle is his intellectual disability. Camden, on the other hand, his biggest hurdle is his hyperactivity, impulsivity, and probably the lack of connections that he seems to struggle with because of his autism.

The Backs say the classical model has enriched their boys’ education.

DANNY: There's just no fluff. If our boys with special needs have limited capacity, then it is all the more important that we fill their buckets with exceptional things and not waste that capacity on things that just don't matter.

Katie Back says her biggest goal for Cooper was that he would learn to read. The high staff-to-student ratios at Joy Academy helped him make quick progress toward that goal.

KATIE: That was huge for me. Like, I just knew, like, Oh, this is what I wanted. Like, it's happening.

That individualized attention is a built-in feature at Joy. 

The school employs five full-time and two part-time staff members. Plus a handful of volunteers—including grandparents who serve as lunch buddies or help with writing. Twelve high school students from the classical school across the street also volunteer throughout the week as mentors.

Most of Joy Academy’s current students came from public schools, and brought with them individualized education programs—or IEPs—designed to address their unique learning needs and goals. As a private school, Joy Academy isn’t required to follow those, but Black says they’re a good starting point.

BLACK: The needs are so different for each student that that has become, I would say, a learning opportunity or a challenge, just trying to decide again what each student needs to be successful here at Joy Academy, then ultimately in life.

Another challenge is tuition. A year at Joy Academy costs $12,000, about 20% higher than at its partner school across the street. But donors and grants provide scholarships to help.

And now, demand is outpacing what the school can do. The term “special needs” encompasses a wide range of abilities and needs, and one small school can’t address them all. 

That brings another difficulty: turning some students away.

BLACK: We've had three students just the last probably three months applied, and we did some readiness screenings that are nonverbal. And at this point, we're not going to do that. I just think the broader you build a school, it's just, it's difficult to manage and to staff.

Black says interest is up, but the school plans to only add three new students this fall.

BLACK: And it's heartbreaking because these families that love the Lord and desire for their children, their most precious earthly possession, to be able to be in an environment where they are getting taught with a Christian worldview, and Christ is at the center of all that we do.

Black says she hopes to see more schools open for students with a variety of needs. 

In the meantime, these 11 students are rounding out their school year the same way they start each day: with joy.

SINGING: Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say, rejoice! Rejoice, rejoice, and again I say rejoice! / OK, thank you guys, listen…

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lauren Dunn in Wichita, Kansas.

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