Polaris Academy CFO Brad Broyles, CEO and co-founder Nathan Palmer, and school administrator Aaron Kaczmarek stand in front of the Polaris Academy mascot in Mesa on March 6, 2025.
The first Autism Certified City is now home to the first school in Arizona to earn recognition as a Certified Autism Center.
Polaris Academy in Mesa recently earned the designation from the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards. Certification requires at least 80% of its staff to complete specialized training in teaching autistic and sensory-sensitive students and ensure that all students are properly accommodated.
The school, which serves children in kindergarten through eighth grade, joins nearly 60 businesses and organizations in Mesa that have completed the certification process since 2019. Autism advocates hope the trend continues.
The IBCCES is a credentialing organization that sets industry standards for cognitive disorder training and certification. It offers training to education, public safety, health care, corporate, travel, and entertainment professionals. To keep the certification, businesses and schools must continue annual training to ensure employees stay up to date on the latest neuro-inclusive practices and tools.
Polaris Academy is a private, for-profit school operated on Empowered Scholarship Account funding, where the money that would pay for a student’s education in a public school follows that student to the school of his or her parent’s choice. ESA funds can pay for private school tuition, home schooling, and tutoring.
Nathan Palmer, CEO and co-founder of Polaris Academy, said pursuing the certification was intentional, but not required to run an autism-focused school. It was important for the school as a way to raise the standard for autism education and also as a way to promote their staff, he said.
Palmer and his wife, Darcy, started Polaris last fall after trying public, private, and homeschooling for their son with autism. In one way or another, each option was unable to meet their son’s needs.
When announcing the school’s certification, Polaris Academy CFO Brad Broyles said they purposefully phrased it as the school being the “first” Arizona school rather than the “only” certified school.
“I used the word ‘first’ because I want others to follow suit,” Palmer said.
The Autism Society of Greater Phoenix lists 34 schools throughout the metro Phoenix area, Tucson and Prescott that offer specific education for students diagnosed with autism or a sensory disorder.
Kate Elliott, executive director of the Autism Society of Southern Arizona, said she believes there is a lack of overarching standards for schools that specialize in helping students with autism, especially private schools, because of a lack of regulation.
“Seeing that certification on the website would probably give people some semblance of confidence or support, so that’s a good thing,” Elliott said.
However, Elliott said that while an IBCCES certification could affect perceived standards for parents and caregivers, there are other concerns that can trump certifications when making a decision, because each individual’s needs are unique. Some of the important considerations Elliott cited are distance from a school, affordability, communication needs, and whether a school is accepting new enrollment.
Erin Rotheram-Fuller, an Arizona State University associate professor, said certifications may matter in the initial search for a school for a child with special needs.
“They sound like a good background credential for a place to have, so it definitely lends some credibility to the site,” Rotheram-Fuller said. “But I think that parents don’t necessarily search on the basis of that credential.”
Olivia Fryer, executive director for the Autism Society of Greater Phoenix, said she hopes to see not just other schools focused on students with autism pursue the CAC certification, but public schools as well.
“Whether an individual chooses to homeschool, go to a public school or a charter school, the more educated these schools can get on how to help their students, it’s going to ultimately be better for that individual,” Fryer said.
Rotheram-Fuller said long-established schools likely lack this certification because they are unaware of it and it is not a fundamental requirement for autism-focused schools.
In 2020, the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Surveillance Program identified 2.7% of 8-year-olds and 1.6% of 4-year-olds in Arizona with Autism Spectrum Disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control’s 2023 Community Report on Autism.
Overall, while the IBCCES is highly recognized, the experts said that it is a company’s ambition that stands out.
Many organizations offer a variety of autism and neurodivergent training to professionals and the general public.
The Autism Society of America and its affiliates, the Autism Society of Southern Arizona and the Autism Society of Greater Phoenix, offer training programs and events. Many of them are free, such as the 101 training series and virtual game nights.
The virtual 101 training series offered by the Autism Society of Greater Phoenix consists of three classes: Autism 101, Safety 101, and Transition 101. Fryer said her organization recently partnered with the Autism Society of America to create training specific to law enforcement to help agents understand autism on a deeper level. The training is not yet available.
Palmer said their goal is for Polaris to set the standard for Arizona autism education. With more Arizona organizations and businesses getting certified, now is the time for schools to take the initiative, he said.
Broyles emphasized that the kind of training offered by the IBCCES is important for all businesses and organizations, not just schools, especially to make the workforce more inclusive.
Polaris Academy plans to expand to ninth grade for the 2025-2026 school year. They are planning a new 20,000-square-foot building in 2026, allowing the school to expand through 12th grade.
Although students already apply their curriculum to cooking or running a business, Polaris officials said the expansion will open the doors for more programming that will prepare students for life after graduation.
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