FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 5, 2022
CONTACT: Kimberly Aguilar, (805) 341-4689
Thousand Oaks, CA – Compass Charter Schools (Compass) of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Yolo have been selected as 2022 National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) Exceptional Virtual Charter Schools in Special Education for the third year in a row.
This award is the highest level of recognition that a charter school can achieve through NASET. This distinction is bestowed upon select qualified charter schools that provide specialized special needs services and supports. Schools must meet rigorous professional criteria and have demonstrated exceptional dedication, commitment, and achievement in special education.
“We are so grateful and honored to receive this recognition for the third year for our Los Angeles and San Diego charters and second year for our Yolo charter (second year as the Yolo charter needed to be open a full year before being considered.) We have an incredible special education team who always puts our scholars’ needs first,” shares J.J. Lewis, Superintendent & CEO. “We are honored to be recognized by NASET as Exceptional Charter Schools in Special Education. At Compass, our Blueprint for Success aims to provide equitable, gold-standard support to all scholars by leveraging the full Compass community to advance each scholar’s academic and social-emotional program.”
“Compass has allowed my son to THRIVE! At Compass, the special education department provides all of his needs – and routinely goes above and beyond to ensure that he has the best educational supports, gold-standard procedures, and continuity between services,” shares Barbara Baez, Compass parent and Los Angeles representative on the El Dorado County Charter SELPA Community Advisory Committee. “They provide him with the educational opportunity to learn in his best environment, where his anxiety is no longer – where he can focus and learn! He is provided with the best curriculum to meet his specific learning styles, and it has been so wild to watch him go from “at-risk” in his learning assessments to “mastered and above level! It’s such a breath of fresh air to work with an IEP team that truly is student-centered and CARES about their students. A million thank yous wouldn’t be enough. I’m so grateful to have found the Compass family.”
The Special Education Department prioritizes serving all of its scholars’ needs and helps them reach their greatest potential. Compass provides support services for scholars with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). For scholars needing specialized academic instruction, the education specialists offer these services in a virtual format. In addition, specialized providers support IEP services for speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and more based on each IEP.
“I am a mother of four children, ages 14, 10, 8, and 6. My three youngest are scholars with Compass. When we began our journey at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, it was a year of discovering who my children were as learners and finding their strengths and weaknesses. Our now 8-year-old struggled with reading and writing from day one,” shares Sarah Carney, parent and Learning Coach of the Year. “We noticed that things were difficult for him, but he was also in the middle of treatment for leukemia, so our thoughts were that he was having issues due to the many chemotherapy drugs he was on. When he completed treatment in November 2021, we still saw that reading was a big struggle for him. I reached out to my supervisor teacher, Brianna Attalla, and asked her for help. Within days, Compass responded by having Mikah tested for any learning differences. It was discovered, as suspected, that Mikah was showing signs of dyslexia. We have been given resources to help him be successful and connected us with an amazing reading tutor who is filling in the blanks where I, as his learning coach, needed a little extra help. Thank you, Compass for not only being my biggest cheerleader but for helping me when I need it the most. I am so thankful to be a part of this family.”
“Compass Charter Schools is so proud to have a team of qualified individuals who all truly care about the scholars and their families,” shares Lauren Jeffries, special education coordinator. “They are passionate and dedicated to meeting each scholar’s individual needs.”
About NASET
The National Association of Special Education Teachers (NASET) is a national membership organization dedicated to supporting and assisting teachers and future teachers of special education. It was founded to promote special education teachers’ profession and provide a national forum for their ideas. NASET seeks to meet a critical need for special education teachers. It develops and promotes professional excellence through teachers who provide services to children with special needs.
About Compass Charter Schools
Compass Charter Schools is a WASC-accredited virtual personalized learning public charter school serving thousands of scholars throughout California. Catering to TK-12 grade scholars, Compass offers two personalized learning programs. Compass is committed to creating a collaborative virtual learning community, inspiring scholars to appreciate the ways in which arts and sciences nurture a curiosity for lifelong learning and preparing scholars to take responsibility for their future successes.
For more information, visit About Compass, and follow us on social media via Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.