PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie County commissioners and other local officials joined educators on Dec. 9 to break ground on the Treasure Coast School for Autism, a new campus planned to open before the start of the 2026 school year. School leaders said Port St. Lucie’s rapid growth has created a need for expanded services for students with autism.
“We took a look at that, we looked at the numbers, we worked with the school district to see if this was an appropriate placement of our replication, and they have been unbelievably supportive in encouraging and in supporting us to open up our school,” said Ann Eisenberg, regional executive director of the Palm Beach School for Autism, the sister school to the upcoming St. Lucie campus.
Eisenberg said the school will open ahead of the next school year with preschool through second grade and will add a grade each year as students advance.
“We plan on opening in August of 2026 for preschool through second grade, and then add grades each year as the kids obviously move from one grade to the next, with eventually our building to have just a little over 200 kids from preschool through fifth grade,” she said.
A second phase will follow, expanding the campus to serve older students.
“Meanwhile, we have a second project that is phase two, that will be our middle school and high school building, and that will be built probably a couple years after the first building is completed,” Eisenberg said. “And then following that, we will be building a third building on the campus… and that will be our transition job training program for the 18- to 22-year-old students.”
To ensure individual support, Eisenberg said class sizes will remain small and student placement will be based on specific needs.
“We’re very stringent about our ratios so that our students get the services they need. And so our ratios are three students to one adult. Our classrooms are no larger than 10 students, one certified teacher, two teacher assistants,” she said. “We focus heavily on reading and math and social and communication. That’s what our children really struggle with, and those are our goals. Independence is a huge goal for our students as well that we work towards.”
Eisenberg said communication and behavior support form the foundation of the school’s model.
“Students with autism really struggle with communication. If you can’t communicate verbally or nonverbally, then you’re in like a foreign country,” she said. “We make sure that our kids know that they have devices to communicate… And behaviors are the other huge struggle for students with autism. And we have the team right there in that very moment when a student might be having a serious struggle.”
Families enrolling in the school will have consistency as students move through grade levels.
“The beauty of both of our programs… is a continuation of services. So once a family is enrolled in our program, they never have to worry about switching to another program or looking for a program that’s going to meet their child’s needs as they move through,” Eisenberg said. “So 5th graders automatically go on to 6th grade and 7th grade, 8th grade and so on.”
Looking ahead, the school hopes eventually to expand its services even further.
“A dream is to build a community day program for students who age out of school for 22 and up,” Eisenberg said.
While not definitive, school officials tentatively expect all phases of the campus to be completed within seven years and to accommodate about 400 students.