Arizona Autism Charter School to launch new career-based academy

The Arizona Autism Charter School (AZACS) is opening their new Post-Secondary Innovation & Entrepreneurial Career Education (PIECE) Academy on August 1.

AZACS opened in 2014 as the state’s first and only tuition-free charter school for students with autism and remains the only charter school of its kind in the southwest. AZACS also offers online education for Arizona students with autism.

The new PIECE Academy provides career-based programs for neuro-diverse people that are designed to prepare them for the workforce, specifically for STEAM and technical positions. They will welcome 100 new students this academic year.

“This high-tech curriculum will be differentiated and made accessible to students at all levels of the autism spectrum,” AZACS Founder and Executive Director Diana Diaz-Harrison said in a press release.

The PIECE Academy boasts five new vocational classrooms, a STEAM lab, a cafeteria, a culinary arts training kitchen, a gymnasium and a dance studio.

AZACS will celebrate the PIECE Academy’s grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, July 30.