It is hard to say goodbye to something you have devoted nearly 10 years of your life to...it is emotional, but it is the right time. As a founding parent of Spectrum Academy, I have seen our little school go from and idea/concept in a living room, to a school with three buildings, two campi, helping over 1000 students (by the fall of 2014). From a founder, to a board member, to a teacher at Spectrum Academy, I have been, felt, and been through highs and lows, trials and triumphs. The school has helped hundreds, and like anything good, it a continual work in progress. Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye...it is very difficult to face our new adventure without my job there, but my children will still attend, and now my younger children and children who are deaf can have more language time with mom...in the end it is all worth it. Prayers of support for our financail adventure with our new EDUCATION CENTER are always welcomed.
It is with very mixed emotions that I write to tell you that I will not be returning to Spectrum Academy for the fall of 2014. With the ASL language needs of my two daughters, their brothers and sisters, and with the arrival of our 9th child, I am not able to meet the needs of my family as well as the needs students of Spectrum Academy any longer.
As a founding parent of Spectrum Academy I have seen great success in several facets of the school: from sensory, to academic, to social to the teachers, and mostly, personally, for my own children’s successes. We can and should always continue to improve, but not at the expense of the student. The drive for creating Spectrum Academy was and is, and will be my children’s continued success. I have gained a wonderful education and friends going through this process that began in the living room of a parent in the late fall of 2004. From 2004 through the long year of 2005—we called this the waiting game, to the extreme rush of 2006, it has been a long journey; but well worth every lesson learned.
Spectrum Academy has changed the lives of the students, parents, teachers, and administrators that have passed through these hallowed halls. It is my hope that we never forget the foundation that the 8 founding parents laid: to meet the needs of each individual student and to be amazed along their personal journey of success. I hope to return to Spectrum Academy after my family’s needs for ASL language and communication have improved.
Like my first journey in the world of Autism, this second journey into the world of the Deaf is full of opportunities for me to learn and gain more friendships. This seems to be a pattern for me in how to really learn: I have to jump in with both feet in order to really be able to help my children. Think of it: try learning a foreign language for 3 years while raising a family, working full time, and then turn immediately to your children and need to teach them this language so that they can figure out how to communicate with the world. I’ve seen great strides, but we have all hit a road block, and I need more time to move my hands in order for them to increase in their ability to access the world.
Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for all the lessons learned: trials and triumphs. I hope and pray that Spectrum stays true to its foundation and continues to bless the lives of my own children as well as the many more children that you all serve. I will fulfill my contract and help and work through August to make sure that I can give my fellow teachers and staff the start that they need. I hope to see you back in the classroom in a few years.
Your faithful and fellow teacher, friend, and supporter of all children,
April T Giauque