By Margaret Morton
The Aurora School of Purcellville is conducting a
capital campaign to expand its service for autistic children.
Executive Director Jennifer Lassiter announced all grants made through March 31
would be fully matched. A silent auction fundraiser also is planned.
The Purcellville school is fast outgrowing its present quarters and needs more
space than it has in shared premises with a day care center. Among the sites
under consideration is the Paxton property in Leesburg, owned by the board of
trustees of the Margaret Paxton Memorial Home For Convalescent Children. A
representative of that organization confirmed talks are ongoing with the Aurora
School, but said nothing concrete has yet been agreed.
The school is one of several programs of Larc, originally created as the Loudoun
Association of Retarded Citizens but known more familiarly as The Arc of
Loudoun.
Aurora School opened in 2003, as the result of a partnership between parents of
children with autism and Larc. The parents had approached Larc Executive
Director Eleanor Voldish to ask her help in educating their children, and so
Aurora was born as a licensed facility to serve children with mental retardation
and mental health impairment. The 19 students at Aurora also include children
suffering from developmental delays, but most students are autistic, according
to Lassiter. Helping those children reach their full potential is the aim of
educators at the school, Lassiter said.
There are several programs at Aurora. On Saturdays, there is a leisure program
for ages 13 and up. The school also performs case management for adults with
mental retardation who are also parents.
"We help them be a parent, so they can keep their families together," Lassiter
said, citing the instance of a young woman with a 10-month-old baby, who is
waiting for assisted housing.
She is proud to be part of the Larc operation, of which she says admiringly, "Larc
changes the world in 400 square feet in Leesburg."
The Paxton Board of Visitors, which acts in an advisory capacity to the Board of
Trustees, identified Aurora School as a possible candidate to the trustees last
year, particularly because its mission fit with that of Rachel Paxton's desires
to serve needy children.
The Reverend John Ohmer, Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Leesburg, who
is a member of the board of visitors, said his board respected the trustees'
right to continue to negotiate privately.
"We are encouraged by what we've been hearing about the conversations and the
trustees' efforts over the past several months to work with Aurora School on the
possibility of opening Paxton for disadvantaged children. We have supported that
all along," he said, citing Rachel Paxton's desires for her property after her
death.