03/21/2016
CARBON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT MEDIA RELEASE
In October of 2015 Robert Cox, the Carbon School District Special Education Director and Mike Keller, the Principal at Castle Valley Center made a decision.
It was time to try something new for some students at CVC.
The laws governing special education say that school districts should try to provide the least restrictive environment for students, and CVC is restrictive in the sense that special education students are cloistered in one school. The district also has students in units out in district buildings too, which is considered less restrictive. So when the idea came up of trying to put some students at the high school, even for only a short period of time per day, in other kinds of classes and electives, the district decided it was worth a try.
A success it has been.
"The trial has succeeded well beyond what we thought it would," said Keller. "I think this is one of the biggest success stories we have had in some time."
It began with five students whose parents and the school agreed could make the daily trek to Carbon High to take on the challenge. There these students have experienced classes like student life success, physical education, food preparation and even horticulture.
"The program has worked well and one of the best stories about it is that one of the students that started going there has now transitioned into a full time high school student," said Keller.
Keller said that the high school has been so cooperative, and without Debra Worley, a counselor who paved the way for the program, it couldn't have happened. He said that the teachers that have worked with the students have been incredible. Sandy Nelson has worked with the students on life skills, Troy Chilcott with foods, Jared Butler in physical education and Jace Pressett with the kids in horticulture, have all be so helpful and positive about the program.
But the students are not sent over alone. Marsha Maples, a new hire this year who just moved to Carbon County from Maryland last year, has taken on the task of managing the kids as they attend classes at Carbon.
Keller said that what they have found, although not totally unexpected, is that not only the teachers have been great, but that many students at the high school have been extremely helpful as well. One student, Nathan Hyer, has actually taken on the job in Mrs. Pressett's class of being an aide for the students who come to class there.
Maples said that she meets the kids each morning as they arrive by bus from CVC and then they go to their various electives.
"While in horticulture they were learning about the various blooms," said Maples which was demonstrated one morning by watching Mrs. Pressett present pictures of various kinds of flowers to Kalie Brinkworth, Ginger Roth and Patience Andrews who named them all. Pressett said that through the course they have also done some hands on work with plants as well.
However, where the classes started in horticulture and life skills in the fall, they have now expanded to other areas.
In the gymnasium Coach Butler and the students work with Quade Jones who loves baseball. He says he particularly likes the Diamondbacks and in the gym through the bad weather they have been playing a form of baseball. He plays the sport with the other students, many of whom have taken him under their wing.
"There are some sports that he doesn't participate in, so when they are doing those sports, he goes up on the track above the gym and a group of kids walk with him around and around," said Maples.
In foods class Brandon Jensen works with other students to put together edible creations. Jensen is now a full time student at the high school and does not transit back and forth to CVC anymore.
The students from CVC go to the high school a few days a week and only for a couple of hours a day, but the change in their growth has been substantial. So much so that Keller speculates that the idea may grow.
"The way this has worked out is a tribute to a lot of people, from the teachers to the students, from our staff to the parents of these students. I think next year we will probably try and expand this and send more students over to Carbon for a few hours a week," concluded Keller.