Quest Inc. to Manage Autism Center in Tampa
When the school year begins again in August, the Florida Autism Center of Excellence (FACE) will operate under its new management company: Quest.
Tampa, Florida (July 17, 2009) – Quest Inc., a leading nonprofit organization serving people with developmental disabilities in Central Florida, has been awarded a contract to manage the charter of the Tampa-based Florida Autism Center of Excellence (FACE).
Prior to the agreement, FACE was set to close when school ended in June. The decision marks the school’s continuation into the 2009-2010 academic year.
Tom Porter, director of Quest schools, expects the transition to be smooth and believes that Quest’s proven track record of success is in the best interest of the students.
“In serving the needs of people with disabilities for almost 50 years, Quest is very qualified to manage FACE,” said Porter. “We are very excited to be involved, and look forward to helping FACE become a state-of-the-art school for children and young adults with autism.”
FACE, which currently serves 71 students with moderate to severe autism ranging in age from 3 to 22, began operation as a public charter school in August 2007. At the time, it was under the management of Nashville-based Educational Services of America (ESA), which announced earlier this year that it would no longer run the program.
The decision for Quest to manage FACE was made in April by the five-member board of the Florida Autism Charter School of Excellence Inc., the nonprofit group that was awarded the grant by the Florida Department of Education to create the school two years ago. The agreement was finalized on July 1.
Quest administers autism services in its Orlando headquarters through its QuestKids division. QuestKids provides high quality educational and developmental services to children with autism and related disorders, and has seen a mainstream success rate of nearly 100 percent when the children are placed in public schools.
QuestKids and Quest services in the Tampa region run on the principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA), recognized as an effective, evidence-based therapy for people with autism – a treatment that will continue to be practiced at FACE as well.
Along with Quest’s in-house team of Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) and education experts will be the 18 instructional staff and five administrative employees who have been working at FACE before Quest assumed management.
About Quest, Inc:
Quest helps people with disabilities achieve their dreams of going to school, having a job, living on their own, and experiencing summer camp. As Central Florida’s largest provider of these services, Quest makes a difference in the lives of more than 1,000 people each day and has been part of our community for nearly 50 years. For more information about Quest, visit www.questinc.org.
About FACE:
The Florida Autism Center of Excellence (FACE) offers successful educational programs for children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. As a public charter school that serves students with moderate to severe autism in pre-K through 12th grade and beyond, FACE provides a comprehensive academic environment to address the unmet needs of the growing number of children in Florida with developmental disabilities. Located at 6400 E. Chelsea St. in Tampa, the school is available to families in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee and Sarasota counties. For more information, please call Tom Porter, director of Quest schools, at 813.621.3223.
