PREP looks back at 35 years of ‘significant impact’

Sometimes it just works.

Mandated by law, planned by intergovernmental committee and implemented with the goal of helping troubled learners and learners with trouble, the Piedmont Regional Education Program — PREP — has gone from 26 preschoolers in 1975 to 920 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

It’s gone from an orphaned outfit bounced between facilities to a welcomed educational partner with a specially designed school building, numerous programs and increasing scholastic reputation.

It’s expanded from serving those students with emotional and behavioral problems to helping the autistic and gifted. It’s gone from serving five counties and a city to a city and eight counties.

A community pillar

Last week students at PREP-led Ivy Creek School celebrated the school and PREP with a party, music and candid photography.

“It’s gotten a lot bigger than we anticipated back when it began,” admitted Mary E. McManus, PREP’s executive director. “We’ve been doing a lot of good things in all of those years. It sure hasn’t been dull.”

There’s nothing dull about PREP. It sprang from lawsuits and laws as a way to provide special education programs for students who live in Fluvanna, Greene, Nelson, Louisa and Albemarle counties and Charlottesville. It recently expanded to include Madison, Culpeper and Rappahannock counties.

Ivy Creek School may be the program’s biggest accomplishment. For years PREP ran a school, but the location bounced from place to place, sometimes every year. It often was held in facilities that were less than optimal for classes with students who may have behavior issues.

On a quest for a permanent location, PREP lucked out when Albemarle County offered property for the school and helped arrange financing. The PREP staff did the rest.

“It’s one of the only schools in the area built just for this purpose,” Ms. McManus said. “The staff really had input into how it was built. It has separate areas for high school, middle school and elementary school students so a disturbance in one area doesn’t spread to other areas. We didn’t have that in other facilities we used.”

But that’s not all

Ivy Creek School also features smaller classrooms to match the class sizes and special rooms where students can take time-outs or go for a break when emotions begin running high.

The design has made teaching easier and that has improved learning. Standardized test scores have increased dramatically.

“It’s had a significant impact,” Ms. McManus said.

So has PREP. With success in teaching those with disabilities, it expanded 10 years ago into teaching those with abilities when it helped create the Blue Ridge Governor’s School for gifted and advanced students.

“There was a need,” Ms. McManus said of the governor’s school. “We’re here to help the school districts provide services whether it’s in classrooms in the schools or special programs or with students who need more academic challenges. We’ve been successful for 35 years because we pretty much do anything our [school districts] need us to do.”