The temporary special needs classroom at New Palestine High School isn’t ideal officials said, however they must live with it until renovation work in completed several months from now.
NEW PALESTINE — The space in the classroom isn’t ideal for students who qualify for special education, officials with the Community School Corp. of Southern Hancock County said. However, the smaller classroom is going to have to do until the major renovation project at New Palestine High School, which is several months behind schedule, is complete.
While some of the district’s $50 million renovation project at NPHS is finished, officials have been waiting several months for supplies so workers can complete a new classroom wing for general education students and a new special education classroom. Until then, many general education students are spending time in makeshift classrooms inside the new NPHS fieldhouse while those who qualify for special education are in a smaller classroom inside the old high school.
During the renovation project, which started several years ago, district officials say they have been mindful of their students who have specific needs and individual educational plans. However, one of the unintended consequences of living through a renovation project means people are going to be displaced, and that includes students in special education.
Principal Jim Voelz noted, for the most part, students and teachers have handled the delays surrounding the renovation project well, pushing forward without too many complaints. However, school board member Jon Hooker, who has a child with special needs, noted the renovation project has affected his student and others with special educational needs.
“Those kids have had to adjust their classroom and things several times,” Hooker said. “While delays don’t bother most kids there, it’s bothering the kids in that class.”
Normally, students who have qualified as special education have a massive classroom with all the resources, such as a kitchen, living room and a bedroom, inside their classroom to help them develop everyday life skills. But, when the renovation project started several years ago, things had to change.
“Prior to the start of the construction, they were teaching the kids how to tie shoes, make beds, and fold clothes and things, essential skills they can use so maybe someday they can live on their own. Now during the renovation, we don’t have the right room or the capability to do all of those things,” Hooker said.
Voelz said that last year’s NPHS Teacher of the Year, Cara Westerman, is working hard with the eight special needs students and the adults who work with the kids to make sure the students have everything they need and are making strides. He said they do have their own classroom for the students, near a restroom, but that it is lacking all the other training resources they’ve had in the past.
That officials noted that living through several years of the multi-million dollar renovation project has been more than challenging for everyone.
“We’re constantly making adjustments,” Voelz said. “But, any time a teacher sends an email to us telling us they have a need, we do everything we can to meet that need.”
Once the renovation project is complete, the special needs students will have a massive room with all the learning tools they need inside, Voelz said.
“The area they are going to get is going to be spacious with its own restroom. It’s going to have a kitchen, a washer and dryer and a living room area,” Voelz said. “I think when it’s all said and done, it will be worth the wait.”
Southern Hancock Director of Student Services Katy Eastes said, like Voelz, she wishes the new classroom wing of the high school renovation was complete. It was supposed to be done at the start of the school year. However, with supply issues lingering, there is no scheduled finish date. Even a projected spring finish might be optimistic.
Eastes said once the renovation project inside NPHS kicked off, they kept the students with special needs in their original space for as long as they could and then moved them to the smaller classroom, not far from where the new wing is under construction.
“Leading up to that move, we had a lot of discussion as to where would be the best place for our special needs kids,” Eastes said. “Obviously, we knew the fieldhouse was not the right place.”
She said the district has worked hard to give the students stability, which is hard to do in the middle of a massive renovation project.
“I’ll admit the room is not as good as what we had; it doesn’t have all the things in it we’d like for it to, so our teacher has been very creative,” Eastes said. “We’ve had to be creative to overcome.”
That’s includes taking the students to other parts of the school when needed to learn other skills such as cooking.
“The new space is going to be better than before but there is the time of sacrifice with this building project,” Eastes said.
Hooker noted he’s proud of the work the district is doing with the major renovation project and noted it’s not the district’s fault there are supply issues. Still, he wishes during the planning stage, when work to finish the weight room, a new softball field and a brand new field-house were priorities, there had been better planning for students who qualify for special education as well.
