Below is the article from 3-17-09:
Lexis Preparatory School is a new kindergarten through eighth-grade college-prep private school serving students in Maricopa County. The school will provide a customized, high-quality learning experience for children with ADHD, ADD and other learning differences, said Dana Herzberg, director of the school.
There are schools in Arizona that serve kids with learning disabilities, but they're more therapeutic models, Herzberg said. Lexis hopes to work with students who lack executive functions such as planning, organizing, strategizing and paying attention, and will provide them with a core college-prep curriculum.
"Lexis is unique. We want our students to go on and achieve a college education. Our goal is to teach students so that they can go onto whatever school they want to go to," Herzberg said. "Arizona has needed this for a long time and I think parents will be pleased with what their kids will receive from Lexis."
Around 10 percent of children have ADD or ADHD with a small percentage of those kids requiring highly specialized placement, said Rick Lavoie, who holds three degrees in special education and has served as an adjunct professor and visiting lecturer at numerous universities. He said he wishes programs like Lexis were not necessary. "I wish every kid could go board the school bus with his siblings and go to the neighborhood school, but for some kids, that is neither practical nor advisable. Most public schools can deal effectively with kids with moderate attentional difficulties, but those kids with complex attentional problems require a special education," Lavoie said.
He recently spoke at two workshops in Scottsdale geared to education professionals and parents of children with learning disabilities. He said he was impressed by the new school. "I have no affiliation or connection with Lexis, but I know a solid, mission-driven educational program when I see one. Lexis will develop into such a program. They have effective leadership, solid plans and a clear vision," Lavoie said. "Phoenix and Scottsdale need such a program.
Lexis Preparatory is in the final zoning approval process with Scottsdale, with 75 percent of the staff hired and a number of students already accepted into the school. The school is working on developing scholarship programs and tuition support. Herzberg said much of the focus now is on admissions, with 40 to 50 students targeted for enrollment in the first year. The admissions process is thorough, including observing the applicant in his or her classroom to determine if the student will benefit from the Lexis program.
Herzberg said Lexis will have a small staff the first year with roughly six to eight teachers, but that classrooms will never have more than 12 kids. And the bar is high for those who will teach at Lexis. "This school will have the top trained and credentialed teachers who want to have success stories. You can't come in and work for this population and not have a passion for what you do," Herzberg said."Lexis teachers see things in a different way and can teach in a different way on all different learning styles and should teach across a continuum."
Students at Lexis will be taught the skills that they are lacking on an individualized basis, which is something that Herzberg didn't have growing up.