As soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by Thurman Haynes who is a volunteer and is 96 years old! He explained to me that this school was named after his granddaughter and that his house is at the corner of the lot. The entire time he was talking to me I could not believe he was 96 years old! He had so much energy!
Thurman then walked me down to the library where I shared breakfast with the staff before school. Then Vicki Simmons, the adaptive PE teacher, asked me if I was willing to help with bus duty. I said sure! (Although I will admit now that I didn't realize how different bus duty is at Haynes-Inman compared to most schools.) This was the point where I started to change. As I walked towards the buses Vicki explained to me that each student is walked by a teacher to his/her classroom. We approached the buses and I watched as teachers had smiles ear to ear as they said good morning to their students and helped them off the bus. I watched as teachers helped each child in a wheelchair off the buses and held hands with students were were able to walk. Vicki then said, "Okay, Darcy we have the next student." Before I could think, I was helping Vicki help a student in a wheelchair off of the bus. I then talked with him while I wheeled him to his room. As we were walking back to the bus Vicki asked, "are you okay helping?" I said of course! I want to experience everything! She said, "I thought so. You see very hands on."
After helping all of the students to their classrooms, Mr. Kevin Carr the principal showed me the rest of the school. He explained to me about the width of the hallways and doors for the wheelchairs. We also visited many of the rooms. When we were half way through I realized that the entire time I was helping students off of the bus and walking around the classrooms, I had only heard 2 students speaking. And these students were in the PreK room (which I was told many of the students in PreK will go to a traditional school next year.)
While on our tour I helped Mr. Carr put a child back into his walker. I just kept thinking how different these student's lives are compared to my students. But, how wonderful it is that they are all able to attend a happy, positive, loving school environment every day. At that point we walked into the cafeteria. Which only had a couple of tables in it. I started to ask why the cafeteria was so small, but Mr. Carr interrupted me. He told me that the majority of the students drink their meals through tubes. He then introduced me to the cafeteria staff who cook amazing food each day and then place it in a blender so the students can drink it.
After the tour, Mr. Carr took me back to the gym to participate in adaptive PE with Vicki Simmons and the students. This was another wonderful experience of stepping out of my comfort zone. I spent the class period helping students out of their wheelchairs and walkers and over to the raised mat. At the mat the teachers helped the students do stretches and roll around on the mat. Then we pulled out of the parachute to play! This was so much fun! I loved seeing the smiles on the students faces!
When the class period was over I walked the students back to the classrooms and then went and found Vicki to ask her a question I had been wondering. I told Vicki that while I was working with the students in adaptive PE I started wondering about the teachers. All of the teachers were so excited and happy to be working with their students each day. I told her I thought this school has the most amazing and caring teachers! I then asked Vicki about how the teachers are evaluated. She told me they are evaluated with the same Teacher Evaluation System that all of the teachers use. I then asked about Standard 6 (the standard that uses 3 years of student's data from test scores). She looked at me and said yes, even Standard 6. I was speechless. Because although I think all teachers should be evaluated equally here were teachers who work with students with severe and profound disabilities every day. This puzzled me to no end because I do not believe any of these teachers should be marked down on their evaluation because of the students they work with.
Spending a couple of hours at this amazing school changed my life. I think every parent, teacher, principal, and legislature should spend a couple of hours at a school such as Haynes-Inman Education Center. It really puts everything into perspective.
Thank you to the Haynes-Inman Education Center teachers and staff for everything you do each day for the students and families in Guilford County.
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| Thanks for breakfast! |
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| Me and Vicki Simmons |
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| Teacher Assistant of the year, Me, Mr. Kevin Carr, and Vicki |
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