APPLE VALLEY — Austin Charters may be a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair, but the creativity and zest for living that exude from this tattooed millennial with the infectious smile know no bounds.

A Brooklyn mom says the city’s charter schools saved her autistic daughter’s life. Despite a troubling start to her education at a district school in Bed-Stuy, Marcia Ward-Mitchell’s 14-year-old ...