159 W Grattan St
Harrisonburg, VA 22801

My son has autism. He did well at Elon Rhodes, Stone Spring, and Bluestone. Unfortunately, when the school district transferred him to Kiester over our objections, things did not go well. The crisis team was good, but the two teachers of his grade had no interest in preventing crisis from occurring. My son's performance went from remarkable to disappointing. His interest in school disappeared. Despite several meetings with the teachers and the full team, the teachers repeatedly exacerbated what should have been brief expressions of autistic frustration. Then they began suspending him for his behavior--three times in two weeks.We couldn't make any headway with the teachers, and the school district refused to move my son to another school. We decided that home schooling, despite the challenges for my son and for us, was a better choice. I would never send him back to Kiester. The teachers didn't listen and the administration, which seemed to listen, still failed to take action.