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"Disabled" doesn't mean "unable", Tammy Ummel, director of the North Central Indiana Special Education Cooperative, told the Warsaw Community Schools Board of Trustees Monday.
"We want to think of young students with disabilities as students first," she said. "They have unique skills and abilities."
The cooperative serves 1,816 students in five school corporations - 30 public schools and six to 10 private schools, Ummel said. In the Warsaw schools alone, 784 students are being served - or 12.9 percent of the student population.
Of those students: 324 have a learning disability; 28 have a communication disability; 113 are mentally handicapped; 56 are emotionally handicapped; 11 are autistic; 16 have other disabilities; 10 have multiple disabilities and 10 have orthopedic disabilities.
"We're seeing students with more complex needs," she said. "We're meeting those needs by taking the services to the students and having a highly trained staff to focus on those needs."
In other business, Superintendent Dr. Lee Harman announced Jefferson Elementary school was selected as one of 32 schools to receive training to become a pilot school for the Four-Block Literacy Model in Indiana.
The program is a language arts instructional model with four main components: reading (guided by a teacher); writing; working with words; and student-selected reading.
Harman also announced the resignation of Jerry Chabot as principal of Edgewood Middle School. Chabot has accepted the position of superintendent of Argos Community Schools beginning Jan. 3.
Chabot will be replaced by Lynn Simmers, as interim principal. Bill Koos will serve as interim administrative assistant.
The Warsaw School Board consists of: Craig Allebach, president; Charles Sauders; Dan Robinson; Brad Brail; Cathy Folk; Larry Chamberlain; and Roy Szymanski.
