Nov 15, 2018, Willmar, MN, West Central Tribune: Montevideo breaks ground on Northstar school for students with special needs http://www.wctrib.com/news/education/4530023-montevideo-breaks-ground-northstar-school-students-special-needs A public partnership between the city of Montevideo and the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative is making possible a new school to serve area students with special needs. Construction on the Northstar Educational Learning Center is underway, with expectations that the 22,500-square-foot facility on the east edge of Montevideo will be ready for its first students at the start of the 2019-20 school year. … The Montevideo Economic Development Agency is the project owner. It is taking on approximately $5.2 million in debt to construct the facility, which it will then lease to the service cooperative with a buyout option, according to Steve Jones, Montevideo city manager. For the city, the project represents an economic development initiative. The school will create 30 to possibly 40 new jobs in the community when fully staffed with paraprofessionals and licensed instructors. Jim Curtiss, mayor-elect of Montevideo, called the facility a great addition for the community. … For the service cooperative, the new school represents the first of its learning centers that is specifically designed and built for students with special needs. The cooperative operates learning centers in Cosmos, Willmar, Belview, Windom and Pipestone. The sixth site in Montevideo will also help it achieve a goal of offering services within 30 miles of all students in the area served by the cooperative. Carmody said the school is expected to initially serve 25 to 30 students in grades K-12. It will be the first of its centers to also include a preschool component, he added. The site offers space for expansion if student enrollment grows, which is very possible, according to Carmody. Special needs programs fill very quickly at all of the centers. "Somewhere there is a ceiling, but we haven't found it yet," he said. The learning centers serve students with behavioral, mental health and other learning disabilities. The students will come from area school districts. … The new school will feature smaller classrooms, as well as sensory rooms for students to take time when struggling during the school day. …
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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