College grant: $41M from state to help disabled students with jobs, college
State officials yesterday announced plans to pour $41 million into programs to help students with disabilities enter the workforce or start college after finishing high school.
More than $5 million of that will go to eight city schools, including Francis Lewis High School in Queens, where officials plan to spend their $423,000 grant on extra services for 450 kids currently in the school’s transition program.
Those students travel daily with their teachers to job sites like nursing homes and clothing retailers, where the curriculum is taught in real work settings.
With the grant money, Francis Lewis High, in collaboration with a special education school that shares space in its building, plans to expand the number and diversity of work sites and add travel training to help special needs kids navigate buses and subways.
The school also plans to hire staff to help parents apply for disability and Social Security resources that the kids may be eligible for.
“They’ll have greater independence, greater ability to find jobs, to understand the process and significance of a job, and there will be a greater number of students getting the services they need once they leave school,” said Assistant Principal Rochelle Dore.
She said the grant represents a 50% increase in the services her students will receive.
Brooklyn’s High School for Enterprise, Business and Technology plans to use the $1.2 million it’s receiving with four other schools in part to create after-school programs that students can attend with their parents.
State officials announced the grant yesterday as they released numbers showing children in special education programs are graduating in slightly higher numbers than in previous years and are doing slightly better on state exams but they’re still lagging behind their peers in general education.
