CRANESVILLE Rd, Oakland, MD 21550

We transferred to Lake Arrowhead Elementary hoping our children would have a better experience than they had at their previous school, but unfortunately that wasn’t our experience.My two younger children are autistic, and I often felt they were viewed as “problem kids” instead of children who needed understanding and support. My son struggled socially and wanted to fit in with his classmates. In one incident, other students encouraged him to pull his pants down because they thought it was funny. My concern is that the focus seemed to be placed almost entirely on my son’s behavior rather than fully looking into what led up to the incident. As a parent, I felt like there wasn’t enough effort to understand the whole situation before decisions were made.I was also disappointed by the way our previous school was discussed. During our time at LAE, I felt there were negative comments made about the school my children had transferred from, even though both schools are in the same district. One comment about my daughter left me feeling that she had been labeled as a failure because of her previous school experience, which was incredibly discouraging to hear as a parent.Overall, I never felt that my children were truly understood or supported. They are bright, caring kids who simply experience the world differently because of autism. Every child deserves patience, fairness, and the opportunity to be seen for their strengths, and I often left feeling that my children were judged instead.Sadly, our experience has made us seriously consider homeschooling because we no longer feel confident that our children are receiving the understanding and support they need. I hope sharing our experience encourages the district to continue improving how it supports autistic and other neurodivergent students.