The Elmbrook School District next year will launch a pilot program aimed at helping cognitively disabled students adapt to life after high school.
The program, Project STRIVE - Specialized Transition, Recreation, Independent Living and Vocational Experiences - is expected to start in the second semester of the school year, said Ramona Stavros, Elmbrook's special education director.
By taking part in Project STRIVE, students will learn independent-living skills and acquire valuable work experience, Stavros said. The district will rent an apartment that will serve as a home base where students can learn how to do laundry, prepare meals and more, and students also will work a volunteer job a few hours a week.
"We're trying to give them that real-life flavor," Stavros said.
The district wants to provide a different opportunity for those students with disabilities who are about to leave high school. Typically, those students remain in the classroom until they graduate or turn 21.
"The kids who this is appropriate for, we want to do something different rather than just teaching them in the classroom," she said.
Other districts have started similar programs, Stavros said.
The program likely will start with half a dozen students. The pilot program would run only half a year, but if it continues, Project STRIVE would be expanded to a full year for students who are about to graduate.
Stavros said she has heard from some agencies and businesses that are interested in partnering with the district, and Elmbrook officials are waiting to hear back about grant applications and other sources of funding for the program.
FYI
For more information about Project STRIVE, contact:
• Ramona Stavros, special education director, Elmbrook Schools, (262) 781-3030, Ext. 1188, or
• Sara Murdoch, program
coordinator, Brookfield Central High School, (262) 785-3910 or
• Megan Rindal, transition consultant, Elmbrook Schools, (414) 587-5982 or rindalm@elmbrookschools.org
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