A move south, new schools and ed choice scholarships have been 'nothing short of a miracle' for this family

Andrew Poole works one day a week at a local retail store as part of his school’s vocational program. The 16-year-old no longer wanders off when unsupervised and he has speaking parts in his school’s annual play.

His younger brother, Bodhi, 15, is not quite as outgoing – he’s a stagehand in the yearly productions – but his confidence has soared since he began attending Andrew’s school and, to the eternal delight of his mother, he has friends.

“Nothing short of a miracle,” Nikki Poole said.

Both boys have Down syndrome. They are students at North Florida School of Special Education (NFSSE) in Jacksonville, a private school for students ages 6-22 who have intellectual and developmental differences. Florida education choice scholarships, managed by Step Up For Students, help make it possible.

“The scholarship,” Nikki said, “it changed everything.”

The scholarships enabled Nikki to move four years ago from Connecticut to Florida with her sons and daughter, Leela, so all three could receive an education Nikki felt was lacking up north.

Leela, 10, is deaf, and Nikki wanted to enroll her in the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, where tuition is free.

Nikki did what she called a “mad search” on the internet for a school in the Jacksonville area that could accommodate Andrew and Bodhi. She found NFSSE. Her initial reaction: “This can’t be. It looks too good to be true.”

“I came down and toured the school,” she said. “It’s impressive. I’m like, ‘We are here.’”

But there were two issues: The tuition and Andrew. Since he wandered off – “eloping,” it is called – he always had an aide with him in his school up north. NFSSE doesn’t provide that.

But Dawna Vaughn, NFSSE’s director of academics, accompanied Nikki and the boys during the tour and felt Andrew wouldn’t need the aide.

That left the tuition.

“There are scholarships,” Dawna told Nikki.

Sold.

“I definitely couldn’t have moved here without the scholarships,” said Nikki, who is in the process of opening her own yoga studio in Jacksonville.

While Nikki’s parents had already moved to Florida and she planned on following them, the move south might not have happened so quickly if not for the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind.

During their initial visit to the school, Nikki was asked what she wanted most for Leela, who was 6 at the time. Nikki wanted her to have the same opportunities she had at that age. Nikki took dance classes four times a week, played sports, was a Brownie and later a Girl Scout. She wanted Leela to have access to those activities.

Play volleyball? Sure. Be a cheerleader? Why not? 

Leela was accepted that afternoon and before mother and daughter left, Nikki was told Leela could join the school’s dance team.

Leela attended a similar school in Connecticut, though it didn’t offer the variety of activities available at her new school. Because the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind was larger and had more students, Nikki was a little concerned about how Leela would adjust.

“I come to find out she's thriving in this in this enormous school that is full of possibilities and full of activities and friends and peers,” Nikki said. “It's endless. The school is endless. Both schools are endless, actually, but in different ways.”

Andrew and Bodhi attended district schools in Connecticut that were inclusive, meaning students with unique abilities were included in classes with the general student body. Nikki felt this failed to address the educational needs of the boys.

“At North Florida, the curriculum is tailored for them,” Nikki said. “They get report cards. They’re just like every other kid.”

NFSSE holds a yearly prom, and seniors attend a three-day trip without their parents.

“When you take them to a school like North Florida, the things that they have to contribute to the world, North Florida pulls out of them,” Nikki said. “They pull out all of these skills that no one else sees, and if they do see them, they dismiss them, because they're just cute kids that will probably live in their parents' house for the rest of their lives, and North Florida is like, ‘No, you're going to have skills, you're going to have a job, you're going to take care of yourself, you're going to be independent.”

You’re also going to be held accountable, which Nikki said, is how NFSSE stopped Andrew from eloping.

“He started at such a deficit that the fact that he is even able to do the things that he's doing is the miracle, Nikki said. “He had so many behavioral issues. When I tell you he couldn't leave my sight, he couldn't leave my sight because he would run out into the street.”

Nikki had to watch Andrew like a hawk. Trips to the grocery store were an adventure because Andrew would try to run or would knock something off a shelf.

Deb Rains, Assistant Head of School at NFSSE, said there were some “hiccups” at first, where Andrew would go to the restroom and not return to class, or leave the classroom and go walk on the school’s track.

“It was just really getting him to understand that no, there are rules and requirements, and you don't have (an aide), so you have a responsibility to communicate these things for the safety of yourself and others, and so he no longer does that,” Deb said.

Andrew, who is a senior, has made all-natural dog treats at NFSSE’s Barkin’ Biscuits pet bakery and stocked clothes at a Jacksonville retail store.

“This is my son who couldn’t walk down the halls without someone by his side. Now he’s making dog biscuits,” Nikki said.

Andrew’s dream is to work with the horses at the school’s barn next year when he enters NFSSE’s transition program.

“We call him kind of the horse whisperer because he just loves to go down there and be with them,” Deb said. “It really calms him and it’s very comfortable. Some people are afraid around the horses because of their size, but he's not.”

Bodhi, who is tall with shoulder-length blonde hair, was a shy kid who lacked confidence when he first arrived on campus. Yet, what he wanted most was the experience of attending school with his peers and making friends.

“He didn’t have any friends (in Connecticut),” Nikki said. “These little things that people have no idea how important they are because it's just taken for granted, that this is just how it is. Everyone has friends and friend groups.

“Not my kids.”

Nikki gave Bodhi a cell phone before the start of this school year.

“He put his friend's phone numbers in there, and then he texted me, ‘I have Mila’s and Jackson's phone number, Mom, in my phone!’ I could nearly cry. He’s precious,” Nikki said.

“I don’t want to sound dramatic, but North Florida has changed his life.”

Said Deb Rains: “To me, it just shows environment is so important where kids are able to fit in and be themselves. They find their people, if you will.”

To illustrate that point, Deb describes the morning drop-off when Bodhi arrives.

“He looks like a little surfer dude. He bebops put of the van and everybody's calling ‘Bodhi! Bodhi! Bodhi!’ and he greets everybody,” she said. “It’s just beautiful to see because when he started school here, he would walk with his head down, his hair covering his face. Now, that's not who he is. He's a very confident young man.”

All Nikki wanted for her children was an education and a chance to be like every other child their age.

“Some people see them as unimportant pieces of society, they're the ones that are dismissed, they don't count or they don't matter,” she said. “But they have so much to offer to our world. Maybe what they contribute isn't the same as what other young men can contribute, but that doesn't mean that they're less valuable. In some ways, they're more valuable, in in my opinion, because our world needs love.”

Roger Mooney, manager, communications, can be reached at [email protected].