12/5/2009 10:00:00 PM New special education classroom at Prescott High School
Matt Hinshaw/ The Daily Courier
Terry Parker helps his student Jehnna Deihl pour soda into a cup Thursday night during the Prescott High School Special Education open house in Prescott. The Special Education classroom renovations include a kitchen, bathroom, and private changing area.
"This is my happy place. I come here whenever I get sad," Prescott School District Child Study Services Director Shari Bayomi said Thursday evening of the new special education B.E.S.T. room at Prescott High School.
PHS and district officials moved the B.E.S.T. (Building Essential Skills and Techniques) room from the main high school building to a portable structure on the northwest side of the building while students were on fall break.
For B.E.S.T. teacher Terry Parker, trading a prime location near the PHS office for a new classroom with a kitchen, a restroom, and a private changing area is worth it.
The students in Parker's B.E.S.T. class are severely handicapped with physical and mental difficulties.
"Having a restroom inside the class is a big plus. Also, there is room for a changing table that goes up and down at the push of a button," Parker said. "There was room to add a kitchen which allows to teach home living skills. In this class, there are not a lot of academics. We teach living and social skills."
Parker has seven students in his B.E.S.T. class and he is responsible for teaching five additional homebound students.
Ann Matthews, whose son Marcus is a freshman in Porter's class, said the new classroom is larger than the previous one. She likes the kitchen where students can learn to prepare food.
In addition, the class is located adjacent to the parking lot, which "is nice because the bus can pull right outside, the kids can get out and come up the ramp," Matthews said. "This is a 100 percent improvement."
Bayomi, who began working for the district this past summer, had toured the previous B.E.S.T. classroom on her initial visit to PHS.
"The old room was very small and some of the students are in wheelchairs," Bayomi said. "I talked with Superintendent Kevin Kapp and Terry about getting a new room with restrooms and a kitchen for occupational therapy."
Kapp authorized the use of about $15,000 in unexpended bond money to pay for the remodel.
"To do what we needed to do, we had to put the classroom in the portables," Prescott High School Principal Totsy McCraley said. "At PHS, we have always had our special education classes front and center, an important part of our school. The beauty of this room is that it is still surrounded by typical classes."
The parents, teachers and district officials who attended a Dec. 4 open house for the new classroom could not stop smiling and everyone was excited about the possibilities presented by the new room.
"(The district) is going in a strong direction and people should feel good about the things it is doing for kids," Bayomi said. "My goal is that, within a few years, PUSD will be a model of what special education should look like in a rural district. It won't be that hard; we've got great people."
Reader Comments
Posted: Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Rich
Wow Free money!@!!!
real you're as lost as public ed.
Yes, it does matter.
Posted: Monday, December 07, 2009
Article comment by:
We need a REAL Special Ed Director!!!
Hey Rich - Does it matter how many succeed? They get special education federal money, about $20K per child, and they are FINALLY spending it on them. The accountability for these kids has been NILL. Next school year, PUSD will have it's FOURTH Special Ed director - we need to establish stability THERE for any program to work. Wonder why the former Special Ed. directors keep quitting? They are trying to fight the good old boys to spend this money on where it's supposed to be spent. This program would appear to be progress towards that goal.
Posted: Sunday, December 06, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Improvements are improvements. Any upgrade has value. Not being thrown away....is better than questioning if they can "live on their own." And that is what was happening previously--being thrown away. Getting all these students back in school, rather than leaving them home could be the next goal. Making real programs for the mild to moderately delayed should be on the list. We are so far behind..so much to do. Support any progress, people. One note though, IDEA doesnt really speak to what programs should look in in urban areas versus sub urban areas versus urban fringe, versus rural, versus indian reservation.
Posted: Sunday, December 06, 2009
Article comment by:
Rich
U.S. Spends on average $10,000 a year per student. (Twice that of Japan with half the results). Az spends half the national average with a quarter of the results. Sounds about right. Speaking of results how many of these "students" succeed with "living on their own?"
