Kilmer Center School For Students With Disabilities Gets Help To Create Memorial Space

VIENNA, VA — At the Kilmer Center School in Vienna, students with the most severe physical, cognitive and behavioral disabilities and autism at Fairfax County Public Schools are enrolled to receive their education. But as the disabilities often come with medical issues, the school has lost numerous students over the years. Hoang Nguyen, principal at the Kilmer Center School, told Patch that those students include those under 10.

"One loss in any of our lives is such a tragedy, but when we have had more than five in the last 10 years, I know life goes on, but it's really sad," Nguyen told Patch.

Nguyen keeps in touch with the families and knows they are still grieving the loss of their children. That's why he got the idea to put together an outdoor learning space with a memorial to the sutdents lost.

As part of the outdoor space with pavers and plants, the memorial will include bricks engraved with the late students' names.

"Their names will be forever here at Kilmer Center School, and I think that will be such a nice tribute," said Nguyen. "We're going to put some benches where the families can just sit and just enjoy the plants and the in the space and eat lunch and just think."

But with any project like this, it requires fundraising. Nguyen noted that Kilmer Center School doesn't have a PTA, so it doesn't have the same fundraising capabilities of other Fairfax County public schools.

It was a lucky day for the principal when he got connected to Reema Patel and her family. Patel has a brother with severe disabilities who attends another Fairfax County school. She founded Siblings of the Exceptional as a support group for people with special needs and their siblings.

Her brother's former teacher from Freedom Hill Elementary School connected the family to Kilmer Center School. That led to Patel, a Langley High School senior, singlehandedly coordinate a fundraiser and raised nearly $20,000 toward Kilmer Center School's outdoor learning space by hosting a concert event.

"I haven't raised that much money in 10 years here, and she did it over one event, and she wants to do another one this school year in the more towards the spring," said Nguyen.

More about Kilmer Center School

While other Fairfax County public schools can serve students with disabilities, Kilmer Center School serves students with disabilities and medical conditions severe enough to require a more restrictive environment.

There are two education programs at Kilmer Center School. The school's IDS (intellectual disabilities severe) serves students with significant medical conditions and physical development conditions who are nonverbal and wheelchair bound. Nguyen says all of the students have experienced seizures at some point in their lives.

"Some of the students, they are so medically fragile that they come to school with nurses from door to door, because unfortunately, their health could turn at any moment in school," said Nguyen.

The second program, the behavior transition program, serves students with autism and other disabilities with maladaptive behaviors. Most of the students are nonverbal. Some of their behaviors can include physical aggression, self-harming behavior, throwing tantrums, spitting and more. Nguyen says these students will use their behavior to communicate when they don't have communication skills.

"We are a school that serves them, provide them and help keep their in their dignity when they do things like that," Nguyen said. "Our job really is to teach them those life skills, to replace those behaviors, whether it be kicking, spitting, hitting, to replace those behaviors with appropriate behaviors, so when they grow up and they graduate at 22 years of age, they can have the most meaningful life."

Students enrolled at Kilmer Center School can attend from age 6 up to 22. The school must still follow the Virginia Department of Education curriculum requirements, but instruction is balanced with the medical and behavioral needs of the students.

Nguyen credits school staff with supporting students' needs everyday and says losses of students take a toll on staff. When the school experiences the loss of a student, the school offers psychological and counseling services as well as events allowing them to relax and reflect.

"Even though I'm the principal, all the heavy lifting is done by my staff. They get all the credit in the world," said Nguyen. "Because they're in front of our students for six and a half hours a day. They are in front of their faces. They're supporting them. They're educating them. They get all the credit building the relationship with them, talking to them day in and day out and making that connection and that bond."

Nguyen is aiming for a spring ribbon cutting for the outdoor learning space at Kilmer Center School.