THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, March 4, 1995                TAG: 9503040477
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                         LENGTH: Short :   27 lines

AUTISTIC 9-YEAR-OLD CAN ATTEND COUNTY SCHOOL, JUDGE RULES

A Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of a Loudoun County couple who want to send their autistic son to Montgomery County schools.

The judge made ``a very strong decision this time and we were very excited,'' Roxana Hartmann said Friday.

Hartmann said she hopes to get her 9-year-old son, Mark, into his new classroom at Kipps Elementary School by next week.

``The community has been very positive and supportive,'' she said.

Roxana and Joseph Hartmann garnered national attention last year, after they challenged the Loudoun County school system's decision to take Mark out of his regular classroom and put him in a special-education class. The school system said he was too disruptive to remain in regular classes.

The Hartmanns lost the case, but have appealed the decision. by CNB