Rethinking Victory: OLV Human Services explains new educational setup for students with disabilities

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Ben Tsujimoto

Stephanie Guadagna embraced a challenge when she accepted OLV Human Services' top educational position in 2019.

OLV had operated five schools in South Buffalo and Lackawanna - each with their own communities, philosophies and leadership - to which special education departments in districts across Western New York referred students with intellectual, mental, emotional and behavioral disabilities.

But the buildings had different names - from Baker Hall to St. John's Parkside to the Intensive Treatment Program - which left parents, teachers and the community uncertain about how they were linked and whom they served.

After about five years of preparation, OLV Human Services this year introduced its new unified educational setup: Victory Education. It's split into three branches comprising different sections of preschool through 12th grade: Victory Early Childhood, Victory Academy and Victory Learning Center.

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"We wanted to create less confusion for the public," said Guadagna, Victory's chief officer of educational services. "Baker versus Academy versus Hall versus RTS - it's a lot going on."

A former principal at one of OLV's early childhood schools, Guadagna said she noticed firsthand how "disjointed" the sites were.

"Our staff were not connected," she said in an interview last month. "They really were in their own buildings and focused on their own individual work."

For the first time in OLV Human Services' educational history, a leadership team of administrators and principals meets at least every other week to share ideas, provide updates across Victory sites and find ways to support each other.

"[Guadagna] made it happen and kept a real positive outlook always," said Michael Gunthrop, principal at Victory Academy and a member of the leadership team. "Even minuscule things, she'll get you excited about it."

Gunthrop said holding "paint parties" with the leadership team fostered a greater sense of togetherness while they improved the aesthetics in multiple buildings.

"It has to be inviting, it has to be warm and an environment where a kid feels safe," the principal said.

One entity falls outside the new umbrella, however. OLV Elementary School is not under the purview of Human Services - it's part of the OLV National Shrine & Basilica Parish, functioning as a prekindergarten-through-eighth grade Catholic school under the auspices of the Buffalo Diocese.

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OLV Human Services' refreshed approach has already helped in key areas, Guadagna said. There's now a clear point of contact for outside school districts, occupational and physical therapists are less confused about expectations at different sites, and prospective hires are "taking a second look" at what Victory is doing.

With a waitlist of more than 100 students at its site that serves students with the greatest needs, Guadagna and her team are in the process of opening five new classrooms by September 2026 and hiring 42 special education teachers to meet the demand.

"We are seeing the need grow exponentially," she said.

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Victory Education's early childhood classrooms accept children from ages 2½ to 5 at two sites: Monarch, at 1025 Ridge Road; and St. John's Parkside, at 51 St. John's Parkside in Cazenovia Park. Guadagna describes this branch as "one of the largest integrated preschool settings in Western New York," with 23 classrooms that mix children in day care and students with disabilities referred by district committees of preschool special education (CPSEs).

This age bracket is seeing an influx of interest. "Our preschool programs are full and have a very large waitlist," Guadagna said. OLV Human Services also provides early intervention services and can clinically diagnose students for various disabilities, including autism, at its evaluation and treatment center on Ridge Road that opened last year.

Victory Academy

The Academy represents Victory's largest population of students - about 140 in late spring but volatile throughout the year due to high turnover. Students leave Victory for any number of reasons, including challenges with transportation, which their home districts must provide; as well as openings at other agencies or a return to their primary school district for a less restrictive setting.

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Our Lady of Victory Organizations has announced new names for three of its partner organizations "in an effort to clarify, unify, and simplify the brands, and build upon the success and legacy of its founder, the Venerable Nelson Baker," the groups said in a press released. The new names of the three partner organizations are: OLV Charities - formerly

The Academy can accommodate as many as 184 students, Guadagna said, and it pulls from 40 districts.

The entire Victory Academy population comprises students who have experienced considerable trauma and have individualized education programs that document their disabilities, many of which fall under the emotional disturbance classification.

Kindergarten through second grade students learn in a wing of the St. John's Parkside school, while the bulk of Academy students are at 777 Ridge Road in Lackawanna. A third site, the Nelson Building, educates 24 students with more intense mental health diagnoses in the Residential Treatment Program. They learn in a "smaller, more therapeutic environment," Guadagna said.

Academy students pursue a Regents or local diploma but have access to more supports than a public school district might offer, Guadagna said, especially in regard to tools to help students improve their behavior. Restorative circles and conferences have been a recent focus at Ridge Road, Gunthrop said.

"The best way to get more out of them is show how much you care first," the principal said.

Victory Learning Center

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A significant trend has emerged in Western New York: the number of children under 5 years old referred for special education evaluation has increased substantially. Traditional resources to help those children with disabilities, however, have not kept pace.

The Learning Center focuses on a complex population of students who are diagnosed with autism or a developmental disability as well as a mental health malady. The center's goal is not a Regents or local diploma, but for students to gain daily living skills and take state Alternative Assessments en route to receiving a skills credential when they exit school.

Guadagna's aim was to make the school's name more positive - it previously was the Intensive Treatment Program. It enrolls 72 students across 12 classrooms - each with six students and four adults - but has a waitlist of 118 students, she said.

The Learning Center and the Academy intermingle in a few key ways: Both populations engage in OLV Human Services' vocational program once they turn 14 years old. Students receive real-life work experience at 13 sites, including Mazurek's Bakery, Crunch Fitness, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, 7-Eleven locations, the café inside Victory's administrative building and at the two early childhood sites. Guadagna emphasized that a minor infraction in the classroom does not bar students from their vocational work.

"Just because I might have a bad morning and be upset doesn't mean I can't go to work that day," Guadagna said.

Athletics are open to both, too: Victory Academy recently wrapped up its first season of unified basketball, but a student from the Learning Center competed on the team as well.

Departing tradition?

Guadagna predicted backlash when OLV Human Services removed direct references to Father Baker from two of the schools' names. Father Nelson Baker, a Buffalo priest devoted to serving marginalized populations, laid the foundation for the present-day campus and built the OLV National Shrine & Basilica.

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Some complaints surfaced, but in response, she said she emphasized the positivity of "Victory" as it relates to the potential for students with disabilities to overcome trauma and a litany of emotional, developmental and behavioral hurdles - and their successes might vary, from completing a shift at the Botanical Gardens to earning a Regents diploma.

"What might look like a victory for one student might look very different for another student," she said.

Father Baker's spirit is not lost in Victory's mission, Guadagna continued.

"He helped the most vulnerable people in our area - children and adults," she said. "That's what we want to do today, that's what we are doing."

Ben Tsujimoto can be reached at btsujimoto@buffnews.com, at (716) 849-6927 or on Twitter at @Tsuj10.

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