Former Milton Student Among Supporters of Granite Academy's Call for More Equity in State Funding

Former students of Granite Academy in Braintree spoke of how the school helped them realize their full academic potential at an event on Monday morning aimed at bringing awareness of special education inequalities to local legislators and the public.

Stephanie Wong, now a freshmen psychology major at UMass Dartmouth, ran into trouble during her senior year at , was hospitalized for a time and stopped attending class. She was able to apply for private schooling, toured Granite Academy and graduated from there and Milton after her final semester.

Staff and teachers at Granite Academy offered the kind of one-on-one support and interaction that she needed, Wong said, and she became especially engaged in history class. At UMass, she made the dean's list, lives on campus and takes a full course load.

"Now I'm at college and I'm doing great," she said. "I don't think it would have been the same if I hadn't come here."

Rep. Mark Cusack, D-Braintree, and Rep. Garrett Bradley, D-Hingham, were among those in attendance on Monday at Granite Academy when James Major, the executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Approved Private Schools, called for support of various measures to improve special education equality, such as fully funding a state account that helps public school districts pay for the cost of out-of-district students and unfreezing tuition rates so that maaps schools can maintain a high-quality, consistent roster of teachers and staff.

"It's so important for members of the legislature to put a human face to these stories," Major said. "We know these are tough times, we know everyone is trying to do more with less."

Still, he added, the message that the state is sending by cutting special education funding by 42 percent over the last two years compared to 2.5 percent trimmed from the general education budget is that "kids with special education and disabilities don't count."

Cusack said the issue is one that is "near and dear to my heart," as he has a relative with disabilities, and he looks forward to working with maaps and Granite Academy on the fiscal year 2012 budget, which begins in July.

When Joan MacDonald's son Taylor was in elementary school, she knew the years ahead would be challenging. He was already dealing with anxiety and depression, which only got worse, leading to talk of suicide and therapy in middle school and high school.

At Hull High School, where Taylor graduated from in 2009 after two and a half years at Granite Academy, MacDonald's son played sports and was an honors student, but bullying led to threats and a new outlet.

"Thankfully we found Granite Academy," MacDonald said. "It was a place where he could be safe. The teachers could appreciate his strengths."

Taylor is now working and taking classes at Massasoit Community College, where he will earn an associates degree this summer and hopefully transfer to UMass Dartmouth this fall, MacDonald said.

During his senior year at Granite Academy, Taylor was able to study at Massasoit, which "really showed he was capable," MacDonald said. One day, after Taylor had quit the football team in Hull because of bullying, MacDonald said she heard a glowing status report on his academic progress.

"There are a thousand kids like Taylor who will never reach their full potential," without schools like Granite Academy, MacDonald said. "Raise my taxes if you have to, but don't cut special education."

Gov. Deval Patrick proposed $213 million in his 2012 budget for the "circuit breaker" account that helps towns pay for students with extra needs, $17 million short of what would bring maaps schools back up to at least the 2009 level. The governor's budget also suggests a 7.4 percent cut for special education, according to maaps, compared to a 1 percent increase for the overall education portion.

"We're held to the same standards of public schools, and we like that," Jim Bertram, Granite Academy's executive director, said. "There are some kids who reach a point that they need private schools to reach their full potential."

Another graduate of the school, Lauren Psaros, was 16 years old when she enrolled at Granite Academy, emotionally disengaged and extremely critical of herself. Her previous schooling, in Quincy, hadn't supported her appropriately, Psaros said.

"They really didn't catch what was happening to me, and that led me down a bad road," she said. "When I came to Granite Academy, everyone was like, 'let me help you, let me help you.'"

Today Psaros is a second-year student at Quincy College, studying psychology and working with kids ages 7 to 13 with behavioral problems. She plans to become an art therapist.

"This is the best school that has ever happened to me. I am not going to cry," she said. "I got hope because of this school, because people believed in me."