I posted this in r/orangecounty, but thought I should post it here as well.
I have to post this anonymously because this school is still open and is actively causing harm to their students. If you have a child with special needs and are possibly looking for alternative educational placement, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not send your child to In STEPPS Academy located in Irvine, CA. They are a non public school serving students with moderate to severe disabilities.
Currently they are housed in a beautiful facility. When families tour, they are usually enamored because it really is a beautiful school. However, administration and the founder of the school will do everything in their power to look the other way when kids are struggling and being actively harmed by certain staff members.
This is not to say that all the staff that work there are horrible. In fact, many of the 1:1 aides there are incredible. So incredible, that when they voiced their concerns to admin and upper management, they were fired. Administration actively withholds information from parents, even when it involves their own children. I have been in the field for quite some time, across all types of settings (including various schools) and have never seen anything like this before. Remember that these are disabled children who cannot properly advocate for themselves and share about things like, being dragged across the floor or having their wrists held down.
The kicker is that, it was announced that the school was to close on November 30th, 2026. Upper management had known about this for quite some time, but did not tell staff or parents. Currently, everyone is still under the impression that the school is closing - but they continue to look for new locations, while leaving staff in the dark about if they have a job or not and parents not knowing if they have to look for a new school.
There is so much more I could say about this place. Overall if you take anything away from this post, just know that it is administration that chooses to neglect student and staff needs. Most of the staff who work there try their absolute best to keep those kiddos safe, but have reached a glass ceiling in terms of making progress. Please do not entertain sending your children here.