Carrying the torch for special needs<br><font size=2><i>200 WNY students, families, te... Page 1 of 3
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Carrying the torch for special needs
200 WNY students, families, teachers celebrate upcoming Olympics
by Gennarose Pope
Reporter Staff Writer
08.05.12 - 12:02 am
A procession of Olympic proportions
marched up Broadway Avenue in West
New York Monday morning, with over
200 students, their families, and their
teachers. Their faces were brightly
painted like tigers and they bore paper
torches and colorful posters celebrating
the upcoming 2012 London Olympic
games.
The parade participants were a part of
the town’s Extended School Year
(ESY) program and ranged from PreKindergarten to 12th grade. Students in
the program face learning and
developmental challenges that include
autism, special learning needs, Down
Syndrome, and spina bifida.
Each year the students and their
devoted team of teachers and
caretakers end the summer program
with a themed celebration, and this
year’s choice was a popular one,
according to Director of Special
Services Beverly Lazarro.
_____________
“It’s a reward that lasts
forever.” – Johnny “Goal
Line” Davis
____________
“The students were really excited about
the theme,” she explained, “Especially
the older students. They see the
commercials on television and they feel
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like they’re a part of it.”
After the Torch Relay parade led an
impressive trail from P.S. 2 on Park
Avenue to the athletic field on
Broadway and 56th, the older students
ran relays and jumped hurdles in true
Olympic style while the younger ones
returned to P.S. 2 to engage in more
age-appropriate revelry.
“The kids really get into it,” Assistant
Director of Special Services Joanne
Winters said, smiling as students leapt
across the field before her. “We’ll end
the summer program with a barbeque
for the children, their parents, and the
staff, who’ve all worked so hard.”
Special staff for a special student
“Never in my life’s dream did I think I’d be doing this, but God brought me
here,” former National Football League player Johnny “Goal Line” Lee Davis
said before running relays with the kids. “It’s been a dream come true.”
Davis works one-on-one with William, a child with spina bifida who is wheelchair bound, with the Individual Education Plan (IEP) part of the school’s Special
Services program.
Davis played for 10 NFL seasons after being recruited in 1978 from the
University of Alabama. He won a Super Bowl ring playing for the San Francisco
49ers. After working in sales for 20 years once he retired from the NFL in 1987,
he wanted something different, and set his sights on working with kids.
“I’ve been so spoiled all my life,” Davis laughed. “When you play football they
put you on a pedestal, and William brought me down. I didn’t plan to be here, but
it’s been the best experience of my life.”
He added, “I learn more from the kids than they learn from me. It’s a reward that
lasts forever.”
Hands-on learning
The spirited ESY students spent weeks studying up on the upcoming international
sporting event. They learned about geography as they researched London and the
countries their favorite athletes came from, they learned what the rings stood for,
and the older students watched Olympic-related movies.
“It really builds their sense of teamwork,” Lazarro said. “It gives them the chance
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to show their abilities in a way they may not have in a traditional academic
setting.”
She added that their posters were created based on what they learned, which
helped them to express themselves more freely than during the remainder of the
school year.
The program, overseen and funded by the state Department of Special Services,
offers students tailor made education to students who qualify. The program
ensures that students with special needs have a fighting chance to keep up with
state mandated curriculum, and the staff assigned with this privilege is specially
certified.
“You have to make learning fun for these children,” Lazarro said. “The program
is very hands-on and the staff has gone above and beyond this year. It’s
wonderful to see.”
For more information on West New York’s Special Services program, call (201)
553-4000.
Gennarose Pope may be reached at [email protected]
© hudsonreporter.com 2012
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