Let me start by saying Happy New Year! and hope everybody had a great holiday season! I had a very restful and nice break with friends and family. I apologize for the December absence but I decided that my first entry of the new year with start with something positive and exciting. I am getting a new classroom!
My first year at my current school I was a small classroom that was equipped with a disabled-accessible bathroom with shower and a kitchen-like area with sink (no oven, stove...) and washer/ dryer hookups. I was never provided a washer and dryer though. It was great for that first year because I had higher-functioning students without any physical disabilities. The next year by class size doubled and a range of disabilities was present. Ok, so now my classroom is working accept for the size (which I’m sure all teachers complain about) and the fact that my school was newly built and the architect forgot to add a ramp in the school and I was not on the ground floor. I had one student in a wheelchair and another who would have a lot of trouble getting out in case of emergency. So my idea was originally to build a wood ramp that could be removed somewhere in the school. Well that was decided against. Instead they would move my classroom downstairs where the chorus room was. Ok, fine it is way bigger and laid out strange but I could work with it. I have a wonderful set of families in my class and one helped to set up a kitchen area for the class. Well then a problem presented itself, no bathroom. There was a public one around the corner but it is kinda gross and is uncomfortable to take someone in a wheelchair into. So my idea was to change my back closet (which was large) into a bathroom since its back wall connected with the girls bathroom. At the end of last year everyone agreed that this would work and it was supposed to be finished over last summer. Well of course it was not and still has not been built. So about a month before break a project manager from the system came and reviewed by class. He came back the next day an example of a special needs class he found and asked me what I thought my class should be equipped with. I explained that at my previous school my classroom had a washer/ dryer, bathroom, refrigerator, oven/ stove. It was perfect; it had everything a functional classroom could need. The p.m. was very receptive. He came back a week layout with a blueprint for my classroom. It was fully equipped. Large bathroom, kitchen area, washer/ dryer. :) He then came back with some other guy and they told me it would be finished before we returned to school. :) Well, that did not happen but he did come by to have me sign off on some plans as well as my principal, and to let me know it will be completed no later than mid-February. Let’s see!
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Let me start by saying Happy New Year! and hope everybody had a great holiday season! I had a very restful and nice break with friends and family. I apologize for the December absence but I decided that my first entry of the new year with start with something positive and exciting. I am getting a new classroom!
