By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
There is a problem with crowding at the Nephi
Elementary School which is a problem for educators dealing
with the educational challenges of students with
disabilities.
"The therapist said children need a place where
students can jump and hop and there seems to be little
available space to do that," said Susan Cowan, Special
Education Director for Juab School District.
Another big problem, she said, was the number of
children diagnosed with severe disabilities.
"That provided us with a big challenging this year,"
said Cowan.
Because of the number of students with sever
disabilities, a half-time teacher with an endorsement for
teaching students in this category was hired.
Funding cuts had affected the number of teacher's
assistants which could be hired.
As for the space problem, she said, some space had
been carved out of the former shower area of the gym so that
some essential needs could be met.
Cowan presented her report on the educational
challenges of students with disabilities to the school board
and told of the different programs for students with
problems which are operating in the District.
"Each school has a resource and self-contained
program," said Cowan. She said the pre-school, housed at
Nephi Elementary, serves 18 children between the ages of
three and five. Mona Elementary serves 14 resource and 2
self-contained students.
Mona Elementary is a school-wide Title I school but
that is not true of any of the other schools in the
district.
Nephi Elementary has 66 resource, 23 self-contained
students, and 47 Title I students.
Juab Middle School serves 56 resource, 18
self-contained, and 20 "At Risk" students.
Juab High School has 52 resource, 26 "At-Risk" and 16
self-contained students.
"Each of these students comes with their own set of
special circumstances," said Cowan.
Also, "At-Risk" programs carry a caseload of 68 speech
students ages 3 through 22.
"Changes in the law now dictate that students who are
disabled must be provided with access to a free education
from age 3 until age 22," she said.
Students who are educated through the program learn
life and job skills.
The staff includes 12 special education teachers and a
full-time speech therapist, a part-time occupational
therapist, an occupational therapist aid, a part-time
physical therapist and a physical therapist aid.
Resource students also generate WPU (weighted pupil
unit) a formula the state uses to determine how much money
is needed to educate each student in a school in the
state.
Other funds come to the district to help pay for
teachers and therapists, in addition to Title I money, but
those funds are tagged to be spent in specific ways and for
specific programs.
"Title I is a special federal fund," said Cowan. "We
can get funding for people but no for the building."
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