Loudoun nonprofit for people with disabilities finds a new home

Credit: Washington Post | Original Article

The Arc of Loudoun — previously located on a manor where it paid no rent — moved to the National Conference Center in Leesburg.

The new location for the Arc of Loudoun’s Aurora School at the National Conference Center in Leesburg. (Arc of Loudoun)

A month after leaving a beautiful manor where it had been based for 16 years — rent-free — the Arc of a Loudoun, a nonprofit that serves children and adults with disabilities, reopened its school last week at a new location in Leesburg.

The Aurora School, the Arc’s private special-education school that operates year-round and draws students from as far as D.C. and West Virginia, opened Sept. 15 at the National Conference Center in Leesburg. The Arc had moved its Ability Fitness Center, which helps people gain mobility and strength as they deal with injuries and medical conditions, to the same property this summer.

“We’re up and running. We’re getting everybody settled in and acclimated to the new space,” said Lisa Max, chief executive of the Arc. “We’re a resilient organization and we have a dedicated board, staff, teachers, families and volunteers who helped us get here.”

The Arc had been located on a large property that is known as the Paxton campus, about six miles from its new home, and has a unique history.

In 1869, Charles R. Paxton and his wife, Rachel, came to Leesburg and bought 700 acres. They had a 32-room Victorian manor house built, and before she died, Rachel left the property in a trust, the Margaret Paxton Memorial for Convalescent Children — named after her daughter — and called for the house and land to be used to care for “convalescent” children. She named a board of trustees to oversee the trust and property. The house served over the years as a place for children recovering from tuberculosis, an orphanage, then a private child care center.

In 2008, the Arc entered into an initial 10-year lease with the trust and moved onto the campus. But the relationship between the two frayedover the years. The trustees said recently that they want to redevelop the site, and it will have a few anchor tenants.

This summer as the landlord-tenant dispute came to a head, the Arc closed its behavior clinic and preschool at the Paxton campus and moved its fitness center to the National Conference Center.

Officials at the Arc said they are paying market rent at their new location, but Max said she could not disclose how much they’re paying because it is proprietary landlord-tenant information.

Lisa Max, front row, right, chief executive of the Arc, with staff and donors outside its new location. (Arc of Loudoun)

In August, the Aurora School closed for several weeks for its summer break and so Arc officials could renovate the new space. The Arc raised more than $775,000 in donations from individuals, businesses and foundations to help with relocation costs, and staff and volunteers helped the nonprofit move, paint and redo the space at the National Conference Center.

For its clients, families, teachers and staff, it has been a rough period. Staff and teachers at the preschool lost their jobs, and many parents were worried they wouldn’t be able to find spots at other schools for their special-needs children if the Aurora School didn’t reopen.

Nadya Osterling’s 16-year-old son, Nico, who has autism, has been a student at the Aurora School for almost five years. While the school was closed, her husband and family members took turns caring for her son. Then he attended a public school’s special-education program for a few weeks.

Nico Osterling, 16, pictured with his sister Sofia, is a student at the Arc's school. (Nadya Osterling)

“It wasn’t easy,” Osterling said. “It was very hard for him. He was so sad. He stopped eating. He’d try to go to sleep early because in his mind when he woke up he hoped he’d be going back to the Aurora School.”

The past two weeks since the Aurora School reopened and Nico has been able to return have been a relief for him and his family.

“He’s back to being happy,” Osterling said, “and he’s glad to see the people there who he knows and loves.”

Arc officials are now hoping to get their 18-month lease extended.

“There have been many ups and downs, but I’m very thankful our kids have a place to come,” said Keira Anderson, one of Nico’s therapists. “It fills my heart to see them back at the Aurora School and us all doing what we love.”