Delay in paperwork caused closing of academy

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

A delay in paperwork from local school districts resulted in the closing of Expand Your Wings Academy, said owner and operator LaShell ElSayed.

ElSayed opened Expand Your Wings as a day care in 2009, and in mid-2011, it became a specialized center for autistic children. She said this was to give parents such as herself a place to bring their children for early intervention.

Expand Your Wings remains certified by the state and still is eligible to receive per-pupil funding through the Ohio Department of Education’s Autism Scholarship Program, said Patrick Galloway, ODE spokesman.

Each child approved for the program receives $7,000 from the state each quarter, ElSayed said.

She said the center’s operating costs for 2011 were about $90,000. Most of that money came out of her own pocket, she said.

So, ElSayed said, even when the funding for two approved children arrives, that money won’t be enough to get the center running again.

“I have to pay my staff that was here working back in July through December when we didn’t have the funding,” she said.

ElSayed said she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to reopen Expand Your Wings, but she intends to find a way because of the parents and the children who she said need her help.

ElSayed, whose son has autism, said at least a half-dozen parents have expressed interest in enrolling their children in the program.

In order for a child to qualify for the funding, parents are required to send three things to the state: an application requesting approval, parental consent and a district assurance form signed by the school district in which the family lives, Galloway said.

ElSayed said some parents have had trouble getting school districts — namely Austintown and Youngstown — to sign the forms.

“The district must sign off before any funding is given,” she said. “Doing so pulls that child from the district and brings them here.”

Joe DeFabio, of Youngstown, said the funding for his 3-year-old son, Felix, was approved in November, but not before struggling with Youngstown City Schools to sign the district-assurance forms.

“They evaluated him and told me he doesn’t have autism ... even though we had documents from Akron Children’s Hospital saying that he did,” DeFabio said. “[Youngstown] told me it was a developmental delay.”

Krystelle Hicks of Youngstown said she’s still waiting on the district to sign paperwork for her 3-year-old daughter, Kiyah.

Hicks said Kiyah also was diagnosed with autism at Akron Children’s Hospital but the Youngstown School District still hasn’t signed her paperwork.

“I started trying to get my daughter into Expand Your Wings back in July,” she said. “After [Youngstown] did its assessment, they kept telling me she doesn’t have autism.”

ElSayed said, “I don’t understand for the life of me why these parents should have to go through this.”

Marla Peachock of Youngstown City Schools’ special-education department said giving district approval isn’t as simple as signing paperwork.

She said all public school districts in Ohio must follow the operating standards to determine if a child is special needs, and which category he or she falls into.

“We do a variety of things with the child, including planning forms, testing and evaluation,” she said. “Signing paperwork is only part of the process. There are so many components that go into it, and every school district takes it seriously.”

Calls to the Austintown School District’s Special Education Office were not returned.

Peachock said in Felix DeFabio’s case, the district felt it necessary to collect additional data after the initial meeting and evaluation.

“In this case, we had our first meeting, but we had to collect additional data to move forward,” she said. “It’s like going to a doctor’s office. He doesn’t treat for the most serious ailment until all of his data points toward that.”

ElSayed said because it took so long to send to the state DeFabio’s paperwork, and the paperwork of two other children, they weren’t eligible for funding during the final quarter of 2011.

“We had to close on Jan. 1 because none of the funding had come through yet,” she said. “We’re still waiting on it even though the state approved two applications.”

Galloway said the providers, in this case Expand Your Wings, send quarterly invoices to the ODE, and the money is sent to the provider after application approval is confirmed.

He said Expand Your Wings’ invoices arrived, and the money should be distributed within the next week or two. “We usually have a pretty quick processing time once the invoice arrive,” he said.