I found an education alternative in Pittsboro

By Rita Marley-McKenzie
Posted Sunday, February 3, 2008

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Pittsboro, NC - This is for parents who are considering private education for their children:

My name is Rita, and I am the parent of a 13 year-old boy. My son had some learning difficulties, and thus, I have spent years battling the public school system. Of course, the first and only diagnosis a therapist would "label" him with was ADHD Inattentive type (he wasn't busy, just a daydreamer..). He continued to fall further and further behind in school and became so frustrated that he literally gave up.

I switched him to a charter school with even less support than the public school. It was to the point that our whole family life was in upheaval. My son escalated his behaviors to hiding under desks at school, trying to make himself throw up in the mornings so he wouldn't have to do to school, banging his head, clawing at his skin, and the list goes on. At the same time he was having night terrors in the middle of the night that truly scared us all.

I finally bit the bullet and took out a huge loan and sent him to private boarding school for a year. In only one year at boarding school, he increased his learning two entire school grades. At the same time all of this transition was happening, a friend suggested he see a neurologist. He completed a sleep study and learned he had a sleep disorder that was causing the night terrors and keeping his brain from resting at night. His brain was sleep deprived, so he manifested ADHD like symptoms. My son returned home with more confidence in his academic abilities after being in a nurturing educational environment for a year.

I didn't have the funds to send him to the school another year but knew if he returned to the public school, he would spiral again.

Angels led me that summer to Donna Bianco. She was in the process of trying to open a school in Pittsboro, and a friend gave me her brochure one day. I called her and told her our story. She took my son under her wing and taught him as a private student over the next year while her school was being built.

She was the first teacher to realize my son's learning style and accommodated his education to the way he learns best. With the opening of Our Neighborhood School in August 2007, my son has continued to attend under Donna's watchful eye. It is a miracle to watch him get up each morning, dress, eat breakfast, and be ready to go on time each morning with very little prompting.

I'm no longer dragging him out of the bed or pulling him out of the bathroom in the mornings. He goes to school and returns home with a smile on his face. From a child who I spent three hours each night with just trying to complete one math worksheet, he now tells me math is easy and his best subject. He loves school, and I can't be happier.

I tell you this, because, I am hoping I will reach other parents like myself who want more for their children than the school system is providing. With NCLB, we are creating a generation of test-takers, not thinkers or life-long learners. At Our Neighborhood School, each child is treated as an individual. Students are taught in a way that encourages them to become creative and critical thinkers and to look outside the box. My son is full of questions and researches answers to those questions now. Only a few years
ago, he could care less about learning and thought he was stupid and would never learn. Oh, what a change ONS has made!

Please take a moment to look at the website for the school. The school is designed with working parents in mind. Tuition is pro-rated through a barter-like system for those of us who don't have six-figure incomes. For those of you currently homeschooling your children and have been thinking about private education, this is the perfect place for your child. ONS is not only for children with learning disabilities. It is a school for all students, where they can flourish and excel at their own pace. There is no such thing as failure or being "left behind" at ONS.

Parents, please feel free to contact me with questions as well. I will be happy to answer from a parent's perspective. I'm sure parents of the other students in the school will be more than happy to talk with you, too. It's not too late to enroll this school year, either. Here's the website: www.ourneighborhoodschool.com or you can call 545-0900 and ask for Donna Bianco for more information.

Thanks for reading.