Meet the Hartmanns
Our story
From 1993 to 1998
During the period 1993 through 1998, the Hartmann Family came under attack by Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) in Loudon, Virginia. LCPS proffered that our son, Mark Hartmann, who has autism, would not benefit from being in a regular classroom with his age-appropriate peers. The school recommended a segregated classroom for students with autism. When the Hartmanns refused the change of placement, LCPS brought suit against the Hartmanns to obtain the power to make the change without their consent.
Understanding that over 50 years of segregation was the biggest failure in the history of education, the Hartmanns decided to remove Mark from LCPS and move to Montgomery County, Virginia (over 300 miles away), where full inclusion was in practice. It also spared Mark from the media circus that surrounded the legal case, as it developed. Mark was fully included at Kipps E.S. with his age-appropriate peers, while the legal process took its course.
Mark Belongs in the Natural Environment.
Full inclusion was effective in providing an appropriate education in the least restrictive environment for Mark until he exited the school system at the age of twenty-two. As the Hartmanns look back over Mark’s education, there is no doubt that their instincts as parents were right from the start.
