“The visionary starts with a clean sheet of paper, and re-imagines the world.”
Malcolm Gladwell, Author, Researcher, Journalist
Certainly the five Founding Mothers of New Vistas School—Dell Hancock, Patricia Kirtley, Dorsey Mayo, Libby Jarrett, and Lucy Guggenheimer Ross—were visionaries, starting with “a clean sheet of paper” imagining what New Vistas could be, and needed to be, to meet the needs of students who often “fall through the cracks” because they learn differently. But they could not have had a crystal ball to see to 2016, with the explosion of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder. From 10-12 % of the school populations with Specific Learning Disabilities in 1986, we now have numbers upwards of 20% with some combination of these learning issues, not to mention the pervasive anxiety disorders professionals tell us children as young as five and six are experiencing related to schooling.
While the Founding Mothers saw a need for a special school for exceptional children and did all of the hard work to get it up and running, the field of learning disabilities has grown exponentially in the intervening thirty years. And this is occurring at a time while the classrooms in public schools are getting ever more crowded—up to 20 plus children in elementary classes, closer to thirty in many upper school classes. A child who demands special individualized attention is less likely than ever to be able to thrive academically and socially in such an environment.
The research on bullying and students with learning problems is chilling. Vicky G. Spencer of George Mason University reports that “The students with disabilities also tended to be less popular, have fewer friends, and struggle with loneliness.”
Add to that the increased likelihood for a child with learning problems to enter the juvenile justice system, and eventually adult prison. Latest numbers place it at twice the likelihood for underserved problem learners.
United Way of Central Virginia recognizes the importance of reading as the foundation for academic success, with its commitment to a three-year Education Reading Initiative. The goal is to have 90% of children in the region reading by 2025. NVS will be here for those other ten percent who need us.
The NVS Founding Mothers re-imagined what education could be for those students in the region who struggle unduly.. At commencement 2015, Libby Jarrett remarked to me, “This school, today, is exactly what we dreamed it could be.” It’s so gratifying to know NVS has helped over 700 young people on their way to independence and success. And it is even more relevant and essential now.
Charlotte G. Morgan, M.Ed., MFA
Charlotte G. Morgan, MEd, MFA
Head of School, New Vistas School
