Erin Turner’s son, Alex, started at Integration Station in January, and she’s already noticed a significant difference.
He’s making strides on his physical and speech therapy goals in “a way that is really meaningful for us and our family,” Turner said.
He’s 3-and-a-half years old and hasn’t yet worked on potty training, but through work with the Arlington, Virginia, program, he now has the verbal skills to communicate and make progress toward that goal.
In the few months since Arlington Public Schools proposed cutting the program for students with disabilities from its proposed budget, parents of current and prospective students have spoken out about the possible consequences.
Integration Station allows toddlers with disabilities early intervention and special needs services, and it’s run through a partnership with The Children’s School. It lets students get comfortable and integrated into a general education environment as they prepare for kindergarten.
The program, however, is no longer in jeopardy.
In an email to families on April 9, the school system said there won’t be any changes to Integration Station for the 2025-26 school year. This fall, the district is planning to create internal and external review committees to “conduct a thorough and holistic review of all our APS PreK programs.”
“We’re really thrilled that they’ve changed their mind for next year, and that they’re putting together a working group,” Turner said. “Because I think our end goal is not just to convince them for one year. We want to convince them for the long run, so that this is a model that’s available for kids in the future.”
As part of the program, Turner said her son gets pulled out of class to work with physical and speech therapists, who are on site. He’s in a classroom with 12 general education students, and at most eight others who have individualized education programs.
Because of that setup, Turner said, “my son isn’t being singled out as the person who needs to be working on speech. All of the kids are learning and getting particular skill sets for working on their speech and other things, even if he needs it more acutely than other kids.”
Meanwhile, at the start of the school year, Amanda Villapando said her 4-year-old son Leo hid under his bed and didn’t want to school. But when he transferred to Integration Station, she said he gets so excited about school that he asks if there’s class on Saturdays and Sundays.
“We were really able to show the board how important Integration Station is, the diverse community of special needs and students that it serves, and just how important it is to the Arlington community,” Villapando said.
She said their advocacy was the result of concerns about what would happen to dozens of families if the program was cut. Chief Academic Officer Gerald Mann previously said the initiative wouldn’t be funded as part of the proposed fiscal 2026 budget.
A consulting firm found that about $1 million could be saved by “exploring how services of the Integration Station are currently delivered and implementing a new model.”
“We have children who have needs ranging from globally delayed to autism to rare genetic disorders that can’t be supported in the public schools right now, and Integration Station not only supports their needs, but really believes in each child’s potential,” Villapando said.
The school board is scheduled to adopt its fiscal 2026 budget on May 1.
“One thing I’ve learned is that the budget is not done until the budget’s done, and next year’s budget is not done yet,” Villapando said.
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