Auburn School (Fairfax)

[Anonymous]

This was suggested as a possible school placement. We can't actually tour the buildiing or meet in person which makes things difficult.

Does anyone have any experience there? How was the virtual learning in the spring? What are the fall plans? How many middle and high school age students are there?

Thanks for any info-

[Anonymous]

I'm looking at Auburn too, this is the info I received for their fall plans:

School will begin September 2nd and June 15th will be the last day of school
Back to School Orientation August 27th
The year will begin with distance learning for all grades
The tuition for months begun with distance learning will be $37,000
Months that begin with hybrid or on campus learning daily will be $42,000
No fees will be added this year
Ultimate goal is to transition back to classrooms

[Anonymous]

I can't find tuition information on their website? Does anyone have tuition for elementary school? Would this school be a good fit with a child with anxiety and slow processing speed?

[Anonymous]

My understanding—not having toured in person—is that all the students have an autism diagnosis, and it is heavily focused on ABA type approaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't find tuition information on their website? Does anyone have tuition for elementary school? Would this school be a good fit with a child with anxiety and slow processing speed?

Have you talked to Oakwood in Annandale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding—not having toured in person—is that all the students have an autism diagnosis, and it is heavily focused on ABA type approaches.

I am less familiar with the Fairfax campus, but that is not true for the silver spring campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding—not having toured in person—is that all the students have an autism diagnosis, and it is heavily focused on ABA type approaches.

I am less familiar with the Fairfax campus, but that is not true for the silver spring campus.

It is also not true of the Fairfax campus. Many kids are ASD but not all.

That said, I'd avoid Auburn right now. They were bought by a large educational conglomerate, and the Fairfax campus basically imploded. Many, many long-term faculty and staff left, followed by at least half the upper school kids and a decent chunk of the lower school. It's unfortunate, because it was a really good school for many kids, but this is definitely a rebuilding year. and it's not clear if the new corporate parent has any idea what they've bought

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding—not having toured in person—is that all the students have an autism diagnosis, and it is heavily focused on ABA type approaches.

I am less familiar with the Fairfax campus, but that is not true for the silver spring campus.

It is also not true of the Fairfax campus. Many kids are ASD but not all.

That said, I'd avoid Auburn right now. They were bought by a large educational conglomerate, and the Fairfax campus basically imploded. Many, many long-term faculty and staff left, followed by at least half the upper school kids and a decent chunk of the lower school. It's unfortunate, because it was a really good school for many kids, but this is definitely a rebuilding year. and it's not clear if the new corporate parent has any idea what they've bought

UGH. So few decent options for our kids. I can't believe that a school would even be considered a lucrative investment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding—not having toured in person—is that all the students have an autism diagnosis, and it is heavily focused on ABA type approaches.

I am less familiar with the Fairfax campus, but that is not true for the silver spring campus.

It is also not true of the Fairfax campus. Many kids are ASD but not all.

That said, I'd avoid Auburn right now. They were bought by a large educational conglomerate, and the Fairfax campus basically imploded. Many, many long-term faculty and staff left, followed by at least half the upper school kids and a decent chunk of the lower school. It's unfortunate, because it was a really good school for many kids, but this is definitely a rebuilding year. and it's not clear if the new corporate parent has any idea what they've bought

UGH. So few decent options for our kids. I can't believe that a school would even be considered a lucrative investment.

One of the more cynical parents I talked to said that they think the goal is to turn it into an outplacement for local schools - same money, no private pay parents grumpy about service failures because it's going to be miles better than whatever school the kid was placed out of and they're not the ones out of pocket $45K/year. Honestly, the corporate people don't even seem to realize what they bought or what to do with it. They basically did virtual summer camp for free in the face of parent outrage.

But, yeah, it's a shame - it was a great model when it worked. Most departing kids are doing Fusion, LindamoodBell Academy, or going back to public school.

[Anonymous]

Question on tuition - is it based on $37,000 academic year DL monthly and then $42,000 basis monthly if in-school? The way written sounds like a monthly amount.

[Anonymous]

What’s the name of the group that bought the school?

The public schools don’t pay the day schools enough to provide anything beyond the bare minimum. Not sure how anyone is going to turn a profit on this plan.

[Anonymous]

This is so sad! We had a wonderful few years at Auburn and DS was able to move on at middle school.

Did Capital Schools sell it to a different group? I hope they can re-open when the rest of the world does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the name of the group that bought the school?

The public schools don’t pay the day schools enough to provide anything beyond the bare minimum. Not sure how anyone is going to turn a profit on this plan.

Agree. When my child was in a special ed private day that contracted with fcps, they basically had none of the materials you would have at even a basic public school.

[Anonymous]

They were bought out by a company called Catapult, which also runs the High Road schools in Maryland, which have a very poor reputation.

There is NO way you can run a quality special education school and turn a profit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They were bought out by a company called Catapult, which also runs the High Road schools in Maryland, which have a very poor reputation.

There is NO way you can run a quality special education school and turn a profit.

Ugh, the High Road chain of schools is hot garbage.