‘We’ve been very fortunate:’ Potential Development CEO shares school growth
CEO Paul Garchar had a front row seat to watch the twenty-year growth of Youngstown’s nonprofit charter school Potential Development.
He described how Potential Development has blossomed into their own school community for northeast Ohio students with autism from pre-K through high school graduation day.
“I had the privilege of being named the CEO at Potential Development in January of 2001,” said Garchar. “In the very beginning, we had a preschool. We were working with approximately 40 students. Twenty-four years later, we have now 135 staff members, 280 students and our budget is quickly approaching $9 million. We’ve been very fortunate.”
How Potential Development has grown
Garchar described the vision for classes for Pre-K through 12 at Potential Development.
“Potential development has evolved into a full blown school system,” said Garchar. “In addition to their individual goals under IEPs, we still teach reading, math, science, same as the public school system would. But again, every child learns differently. We wanted to make sure that they had as typical a school experience as possible. We add in art therapy, music programs, drum circles; we go to the YMCA for gym and swim [classes].”
Programming goes beyond the classroom with extra curricular activities and athletics like trips to the YMCA, participating in Special Olympics bowling, basketball and track meets.
“Over the last year and a half, we have heard stories of families returning to the Youngstown area just so their son or daughter could attend Potential Development,” said Garchar. “We’ve had families come move back to Ohio from Louisiana, from New York, from all over Pennsylvania, because they have family here and heard about our school. I don’t know a better complement to our school than to have someone specifically move to the area so that they can attend here.”
How Potential Development educates high school students
When the students enter high school, they have individualized plans with teachers and parents for what’s next after graduation.
“We have hired a transition coordinator position, she actually starts working with families and students as early as ninth grade on an individual education plan, which addresses transition after high school,” said Garchar. “Basically, we’re sitting down with the parents because those four years of high school are gonna fly by really, really quickly, so we need to have that discussion early. ‘Where would you like to see your son or daughter after graduation? Youngstown State, or a community college might be a possibility? Would you rather see your son or daughter go into a trade go right into the workforce?’ We explore those possibilities to get that information out to the parents, then they can go out and visit and really put some some thought into that.”
Garchar said this year there are 15 students on track to graduate from Potential Development with their high school diplomas at Stambaugh Auditorium.
“In the elementary and middle school, we have some classes that are now approaching 25 to 30 students, so the graduating classes are going to get bigger and bigger, moving forward,” said Garchar. “About four years ago, we really wanted to portray our school as a legitimate school. We can do many things that the public schools do. So, in the city of Youngstown, all of the city high schools, use Stambaugh Auditorium for graduation ceremonies. We reached out to Stambaugh and they were thrilled to be working with us. [Graduation] is a powerful day. I’d encourage anyone, you are more than welcome to attend [graduation]. It’s a very powerful day to see kids that we’ve worked with since the age of three or four sometimes walk across that stage. There’s a lot of tears in that building that day.”
CONNECT WITH US
WEB SITE ► https://www.mahoningmatters.com
DAILY NEWS EMAIL ► https://www.mahoningmatters.com/customer-service/newsletter-signup/
FACEBOOK ► https://www.facebook.com/mahoningmatters
TWITTER ► https://twitter.com/mahoningmatters
YOUTUBE ► https://www.youtube.com/@mahoningmatters2814
INSTAGRAM ► https://www.instagram.com/mahoningmatters
SUPPORT US ► https://givebutter.com/vNfzEW
