A Potomac school for children and young adults with developmental disabilities is seeking assistance from the state to renovate a building that will be used for job training.

Ivymount School is seeking a $400,000 state bond bill to complete the renovation and expansion school facilities and an annex building that will serve as a Young Adult Center, said Molly Whalen, the school's director of development and communications. The school serves students ages 4 to 21 with developmental delays, speech and language deficits, learning disabilities and autism.

Ivymount's bond bill is sponsored by Del. Brian Feldman (D-Dist. 15) of Potomac, who said Ivymount's expansion is a project worthy of the competitive state bond bills.

"I think that this is the kind of bond bill that I think the state would like to find a way to support," Feldman said.

Of the $15 million available for bond bills this year, $4.5 million in bond bill requests are from Montgomery County, Feldman said.

Located off Seven Locks Road in Potomac, Ivymount School has occupied a former Montgomery County public school on a long-term lease with the county, Whalen said. Since they moved into the building in 1985, the Ivymount School has spent more than $9 million for renovations and repairs, including an expansion in 2001.

Purchased in 2007, the annex is a two-story house that neighbors the school, Whalen said. When renovations are complete the Young Adult Center will provide a separate place for students age 18 to 21 to learn skills they will need to hold a job.

"We don't want to do the job training in the classroom," Whalen said.

The 1,900-square-foot expansion of the 2,700-square-foot annex will provide a place separate from younger students where young adults can practice how to communicate with coworkers and bosses, how to dress for an interview, and how to advocate for themselves, Whalen said. The annex will also have a culinary center for students to learn basic skills to prepare meals.

The school received a special exception from the Montgomery Planning board in June 2009 to use the annex as part of the school.

Ivymount has a Post High School Program that helps young adults transition from school to employment, she said. The program helps place students in internships at more than 25 job sites including Bethesda Volunteer Fire Station, the Kensington and Rockville libraries, the National Institutes of Heath Clinical Center, and the Smithsonian Institute.

More than 85 percent of the program's graduates are employed, Whalen said. Nationally, less than 35 percent of adults with disabilities are employed, she said.

Training young adults with disabilities to work in society is becoming increasingly important as the rate of autism is increasing, Whalen said.

One in 110 children in U.S. has Autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are 210 students enrolled at Ivymount, served by 225 staff members, Whalen said.

As a condition of their lease with the county, Ivymount is required to sublease part of their property to a child care facility, Whalen said. The current tenant is Montgomery Child Care Beverly Farms.

Ivymount had terminated its lease with Beverly Farms in 2009, but the letter of termination is being receded, according to the bond bill's fact sheet. Ivymount purchased the annex to either renovate for school purposes or as a space for Beverly Farms, but it was discovered that the child care facility could not operate in the annex due to the zoning regulations of the special exception, according to the fact sheet.

Director Cindy O'Carroll said Beverly Farms supports Ivymount's bond bill, and does not have any plans to move to the annex.

"We do have a really strong, long history. We've worked together for many years," O'Carroll said. "Our programs support each other."

The annex renovation will cost more than $1 million, and Ivymount will need to secure additional funding even if they are awarded the $400,000 bond bill, Whalen said. The school would have to match funds for the bond bill.

The school is recommended to receive a $20,000 community grant from Montgomery County in the recommended fiscal 2012 operating budget, and $100,000 in the recommended amendments to the fiscal 2011-2016 capital improvements budget, county spokeswoman Mary Anderson said. Both budgets need to be approved by the county council.

Even with a rough economy, Whalen said the school has not seen a steep decline in donations. Its biennial gala in November raised $270,000.

Construction on the annex building began in January is expected to finish in June, before classes start again in July, Whalen said.

ccalamaio@gazette.net