The Kindness of Strangers

Normally, I do not post full news articles on this blog. 

I wait until my “Tuesday Linkage” day and post links to important news stories then.

This is too big a story to wait, and, it’s local…

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Anonymous donor gives $2 million to Croyden school to add classrooms

An anonymous donor has given $2 million to Croyden Avenue School that will allow for the construction and operation of six more classrooms in a new facility being built in Portage.

Croyden is operated by the Kalamazoo Regional Education Service Agency and enrolls Kalamazoo County children with severe disabilities. Its highly regarded autism program was recently featured in a report on National Public Radio.In November, voters approved a $25.4 million bond issue to construct a new facility for Croyden programs. The new school will be built near KRESA’s administrative offices on East Milham Road in Portage. The project is still in the design stage and the school is scheduled to open in fall 2010.The donor’s money will allow for an expansion of the project, KRESA officials say.The donation is being funneled through the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. Part of the money will pay for construction and furnishing of six additional specialty classrooms. The remainder will be put in an endowment to pay for the classrooms’ operating costs.“We are very thankful that we live in such a wonderful community where there are people who will step up to help students with special needs,” KRESA Superintendent Ron Fuller said. “The rooms will add so much to the new school. What a lasting legacy.”KRESA officials said the new facility is needed to relieve overcrowding and because Croyden is a former elementary school with a design not well-suited for special education.

Croyden’s enrollment has increased in recent years, they say, because of a spike in autism rates as well as the number of premature babies who survive, but are disabled.

The specialty classrooms will include a room for music therapy and an art room with specialized equipment such as adaptive paintbrushes and electric scissors for children lacking fine motor skills.

The school’s recycling program, now greatly limited by space constraints, will have its own room where students can learn a vocational skill and help the environment by sorting recyclables and shredding paper.

The “teen closet,” another vocational opportunity, will become a teen room, where students help sort donated clothing.

Other ongoing vocational projects, like making potpourri and paper, also will have rooms of their own.

Croyden Principal Angela Telfer said the new facility was planned without the specialty classrooms to save money.

“We were just trying to have enough (regular) classroom space,” she said.

But Telfer added that she and the staff are thrilled at the idea of getting dedicated classrooms for special programs.

“We’re doing these things right now out of storage closets” or with therapists moving around equipment on carts, Telfer said. “It will be so nice for those programs to have their own space.”

This is the second large donation that Croyden has received recently. Last year, an anonymous donor established a $1 million fund for assistive technology and other types of adaptive equipment to help Croyden students communicate.

“Up until now, we’ve only been able to dream about these types of extras,” Telfer said.

Posted by Julie Mack, Kalamazoo Gazette on April 01, 2008 11:16AM

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This is Taylor’s school!

How cool is this?!

Unfortunately, by the time this new school opens, Taylor will already have moved on into the public school in our discrict.

But it warms my heart to know that children in this county with disibilities are going to have a wonderful place to learn and grow as individuals. 

The school and the staff have done such great things for Taylor and for our family, and this is a great opportunity for them as well.