This high school district and its broader community have come together to give Delaware Valley’s special education students valuable learning opportunities, as well as experience in the work world.
More than 50 employers provide job training experiences to students. Job sites range from a lumber yard to a graphic design firm; and from the local supermarkets to the Hunterdon Medical Center.
Kingwood Township School, one of Delaware Valley’s constituent elementary districts has served as a job site, too.
Delaware Valley provides paraprofessional services, as well as transportation, to help make the program work. Students play a large part in selecting their job sites, based on a survey of their individual needs and interests, and their involvement in Person Centered Initiatives. The work sites change as students’ needs change. The program has also become a stepping stone to the future for some students: Some students have landed jobs through their experience in this program, and others are likely to do so.
Information
Contact: Frank Guenther, director of special services, [email protected]
Submitted by district through a survey conducted for NJSBA’s 2014 report, Special Education: A Service, Not a Place