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Many Philadelphia school district families with children in autistic support classes have had the same frustrating experience: As their kids have grown up, they’ve had to switch schools at least once to access support services.

That’s because Philly has a limited number of autistic support classes, which provide additional educational services for some students with autism and other disabilities. Though the school district distributes those classes across its more than 200 schools, many only have autistic support for certain grades.

That can mean, for example, that a student is assigned to their neighborhood school for grades K-2, but then has to switch to a different school to access autistic support for third grade. District officials, advocates, and families all agree: Those transitions can be particularly difficult for those with autism and other disabilities.

“They get used to the teachers, they get adjusted to the room, they get adjusted to the school,” said Jen Fischer, program coordinator at Vision for Equality, a Pennsylvania-based advocacy organization for people with disabilities. “For some people, just when that happens, they’ve got to move.”

Since Chief of Special Education and Diverse Learners Nathalie Nérée joined the district two years ago, reducing such transitions for students with disabilities has been one of her priorities, she said.

“My goal — and it has been very clear to my team, to all schools — is that we build a continuum of programs within all of our schools,” said Nérée. Nérée said students at only one or two schools last year had to change schools for this school year to access autism support.

But creating continuity is no easy task. The district is expanding autistic support offerings. It’s also planning to close schools — and the autistic support classes in them — as part of its facilities planning process. District officials have not yet announced which schools may be closed or colocated. Yet some worry such changes could force students with autism and other disabilities to change schools once again and further disrupt their education.

In a city where families often feel that there are few desirable schools, “it’s a battle of your life for each transition,” said Luisa Velasquez-Maher, a mother of a student with autism in the district and an education advocate. Ultimately, “less transition means less stress,” she said.

Nérée said she is not part of the team creating the facilities plan. However, she said she has met with them extensively to share the vision “that all of our students will have the opportunity to attend any school that they want across the city.”

But, she added, the breadth of services the district can provide is sometimes limited by cost and coordination challenges.

To build out more programs for students with disabilities, Nérée said, “it’s going to take time.”

Number of autistic support classes limited but growing

A decade ago, families sued the district over its policy of automatically transferring students with autism to new schools without significant parent involvement. The district settled and agreed to notify parents in advance of any transfer and provide them with an opportunity to discuss the decision.

Since then, the number of students with autism in the district has more than doubled, according to state data. Last school year, there were around 5,000 students with autism in Philly schools.

Not all of those students participate in autistic support classes. Some may instead participate in general education classes or receive other forms of assistance, like a one-on-one aide.

Last school year, around 4,000 students enrolled in one of the district’s more than 500 autistic support classes, according to district data. That number continues to grow, Nérée said. The district added about 33 new classes in August to meet the increased need.

The classes provide specialized instruction to help students build skills in communication and behavior along with math and reading. The state limits the number of students that can be assigned per autistic support teacher, and how many grade bands can be mixed in each classroom. (In high schools, autistic support classes include a mix of students in all grades.)

However, neither state nor federal law dictates how support classes must be distributed throughout a school district. That means those decisions are largely up to Nérée and her team.

Nérée said that each winter, her team examines where students may need autistic support classes the following school year and which grade bands they fall into, including coordinating with the city’s early intervention provider to determine how many kindergartners may qualify. The district then opens new classes or changes the grade bands a school serves based on that information.

But it’s tricky to track exactly where students will have autistic support needs by the beginning of the school year. Some families move around, or join the district over the summer. Some students also move from autistic support to general education, while others are found to be eligible for the program as they age.

That can mean regular changes in how many students the district needs to find available autistic support spots for, said Nérée. “We’re trying to put things in place so that our students can go to any school they desire, and that they feel welcome and they’re supported, and that their needs are met.”

Several advocates Chalkbeat spoke with said they’ve noticed improved continuity for students since Nérée joined the district.

Still, more than 30 of the district’s 164 elementary and middle schools do not have any autistic support classes, according to a list of school programs the district shared with Chalkbeat. That includes several elementary schools considered highly desirable, like William M. Meredith and Penn Alexander.

As well, around 25 elementary schools only have autistic support for students in grades K-2, even though most of them enroll students up to at least fifth grade, and many go to eighth grade. Other schools only have autistic support classes for higher grades.

Schools without autistic support still have other offerings, like a special education teacher or aide, Nérée said.

Jamiel Owens, an advocate who works with parents of students with autism in the Philadelphia area, said he appreciates the ways the district has worked to provide more consistency and support for families.

But fully addressing the challenges of transitions would mean providing more resources for families, better trained teachers, and more options for students with disabilities, he said.

He said he feels the district is still trying to fit students with autism into a school system not primarily focused on serving their needs, “instead of looking at how we can actually reshape the school system.”

Why school closures can harm kids with autism

School closures have been found to be disruptive for all students in various ways. Researchers recommend creating robust support systems for students who must change schools.

Many advocates say that kind of support is even more urgent for students with autism or other disabilities. Changing schools, or having a flood of new students join their schools, may be even more destabilizing for them than other children.

“A lot of people think transition is only when a young adult goes into adulthood right after high school, into the new world,” said Owens, who has a son with autism who graduated from the district. “But every year — every grade achieved and going to the next one — is a transition stage. How are you preparing for that?”

District officials say the point of the district facilities plan, which will lead to closing schools, is to better distribute district resources to provide more opportunities for all students.

Though district officials have not yet shared details about which schools could close, Superintendent Tony Watlington has said repeatedly that the final plan will reduce the number of grade bands to limit school transitions.

But the proposal to close schools is ringing alarm bells for some parents of students with autism. Some say the harm of closures — which would inevitably affect students with autism and other disabilities — is not worth the risk.

“When you move kids that have issues with flexibility, [who] need patterns and routines — which is a very classic need of an autistic child — you change their whole world,” said Marissa Post, a parent of a child with autism in the school district.

“They have to learn new routines. They have to learn new settings. They have to redo skills that they already mastered in whatever setting they were in previously,” said Post, who’s also an advocate who works with families.

Post said she also worries that schools with many autistic support classes may appear underenrolled because of how the state limits the number of students assigned to each autistic support teacher.

The district has not shared how it is factoring autistic support classes into the facilities plan. District officials said they reviewed building utilization data with principals before publishing the data they say will inform school closures.

Spokesperson Christina Clark said that as the district implements the facilities plan, it will continue to open classrooms as needed “to make sure that students’ needs are met.”

Luisa Velasquez-Maher, the parent of a student with autism, said she hopes the facilities planning process takes the needs of each community into account and considers the needs of families with students with autism and other disabilities.

So far, she said she’s worried that hasn’t been the case. She’s gone to community meetings where she said information has been limited, and she has found the data the district is using to inform its decisions difficult to parse.

But she said she also understands the district’s need to address underutilized school buildings and better distribute its limited resources.

She hopes officials ask questions sincerely, listen to community members, and craft a plan that preserves strong support for students with autism. “If that’s their response, I will help,” she said.

Carly Sitrin contributed reporting.

Rebecca Redelmeier is a reporter at Chalkbeat Philadelphia. She writes about public schools, early childhood education, and issues that affect students, families, and educators across Philadelphia. Contact Rebecca at rredelmeier@chalkbeat.org.