Feature
March
03
Taking Learning to the MAX
by Stephanie Detillier
From the outside, the MAX Charter School might not look like a groundbreaking achievement in education. It’s housed in a series of prefabricated buildings in a former parking lot between Family Housing and Babington Hall on the Nicholls State University campus. But inside, the school is filled with passionate educators, dedicated parent volunteers and motivated students who are grateful to be in a learning environment where they can make progress.
MAX opened in August 2007, thanks to the frustration of a parent who has long been advocating for children with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and other learning differences. Thibodaux businessman Jake Giardina and his wife, Maxine Gros Giardina, have two sons who are dyslexic. In 1990, they joined other families in the fight to get state legislation passed that would require additional services for dyslexic students in Louisiana’s regular education classrooms. Later, they formed the Giardina Family Foundation, which has offered lectures, support groups and teacher seminars on dyslexia. Their efforts helped inform the community that those with dyslexia have difficulties using language, including problems with speech, reading, spelling and math, they have average or above average intelligence. In other words, they have the ability to learn but must be taught differently.
Race for Their Future
Run/Walk
Saturday, March 12
John L. Guidry Stadium
For more information visit
their website at
mymaxcharterschool.org
Despite the progress, local parents continued to desperately seek more individualized education for children with dyslexia. Jake Giardina took his work a step further and collaborated with Nicholls officials to establish a charter school, which is named in honor of his wife, who died in 2001.
With all of its resources, Nicholls seemed like the ideal place to start a school dedicated to dyslexia. College of Education students need classrooms settings to get experience in, and the Louisiana Center for Dyslexia and Related Disorders is housed on campus.
“We open our doors to Nicholls because we need all the help we can get,” Linda Musson, director and principal of the MAX Charter School, says. “But we are also benefiting Nicholls by allowing their students to work with probably one of the hardest student populations to educate. It’s a wonderful hand-in-hand, collaborative effort.”
Although dyslexia affects one of every five children, MAX is one of the few public schools of its kind in the United States. Many schools offering specialized curriculums for students with learning disorders are private and costly. A similar school in the Houston area has an annual tuition over $16,000.
As a charter school, MAX cannot charge for tuition. Charter schools are primarily funded by taxpayer money and must meet state accountability guidelines, such as adequate Louisiana Educational Assessment Program scores.
MAX accepts about 120 students in first through eighth grade and has attracted applicants from Lafourche, Terrebonne, Assumption, St. Charles, St. James and Ascension parishes. Each spring, a lottery is conducted to determine which students the school will be able to accommodate; those not selected are put on a waiting list.
Musson, who’s been an educator for 47 years and worked in the dyslexia arena for the past 20 years, says the MAX Charter School is an absolute gem in the city of Thibodaux. Class sizes are kept small and teachers are specifically trained. The staff includes a numeracy coach and literacy coach, who is also a certified academic therapist. In addition, parents regularly volunteer at the school; one mother offers her help daily.
“We’re a tight-knit community working for these children who so desperately need to catch up with their age group in the reading arena,” Musson says. “And we know we can do it.”
The MAX Charter School stands by its philosophy: All children can learn when their learning disorders are properly diagnosed, when their teachers are properly trained and when their educational environment emphasizes support, dignity and individual responsibility.
The school’s remedial curriculum uses two interventions, which research has proven are effective in instructing dyslexic children.
“We use a phonetic-based program with lots of multisensory activities and lots of repetition, not drills, but repetition of the same concepts over and over in different ways,” Musson says.
The teachers and staff also serve as confidence builders. It’s no surprise that many students with learning disabilities grow frustrated with schoolwork and develop low self-esteem as they fall more and more behind their peers.
Parents are grateful for the extra steps the school takes to bring their children close to an even playing field with their peers. Many hope the school can build a brick and mortar facility or possibly add high school grade levels. In the meantime, the school is raising funds to continue carrying out its mission.
Vanessa Benoit, whose son flourishes as a student at MAX, is now paying her son’s blessing forward by serving as the chairperson of the school’s upcoming 5K fundraiser. The third annual Race for Their Future Run/Walk will be held on March 12 at the John L. Guidry Stadium. The funds raised will help ensure that the school can continue offering students the resources they need to succeed.
