Students in the Kent School District’s The Outreach Program (TOP) start classes Monday in a new, larger facility constructed to better serve the 18-to-21-year-old special needs students in the program.
The 13,000-square-foot modular structure installed on the north side of the baseball fields at Kent Phoenix Academy, 11000 SE 264th St., is nearly three times larger than the previous facility next to the district’s bus garage near Kent-Meridian High School.
The new building, costing about $4.8 million and funded by the sale of district properties, includes five classrooms – one of which will be set up as an occupational and physical therapy room. The facility will also have a multipurpose room, equipped with two residential kitchens — one handicapped accessible — to teach students how to cook, as well as a staff work room.
The district is trying out new technology, such as heating and cooling systems and LED lighting, in the new TOP building.
“This is going to be a model, I truly believe, for new schools built from here on,” Superintendent Calvin Watts said as district administrators and the school board toured the new facility last month.
The old facility – constructed in 1951 and used as the district’s transportation office before being converted to the TOP building about 10 years ago – will be demolished and paved over to be used as additional parking for buses.
TOP expands
The larger space will allow TOP to serve additional students.
Last year, the program served 44 students and had four certified teachers and 13 paraprofessionals. This year, the program will serve close to 60 students and have 35-40 staff members, including six certified teachers and 27 paraprofessionals.
Some TOP students were served in the high school setting instead of with their peers, because of space limitation in the previous 4,420-square-foot facility.
Susan Whitehall, who previously worked in special education at Kent-Meridian, will oversee administration of TOP in the newly created position of coordinator of transition services.
The TOP staff is looking forward to serving students in the new facility, Whitehall said.
“We are happy they get such a beautiful environment,” she said. “It is so different for them. They do deserve it.”
TOP is always looking for community organizations or business to partner with to provide work experience for students, as well as individual volunteers or guest speakers to provide occupational training, Whitehall said.
For more information, call TOP at 253-373-4080.
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