WEST JORDAN — Jesse Hutchings bags groceries at Smith's. Zach McMillan and and Nannette Watt gain basic job training at Barnes & Noble.
They are among students at South Valley School in Jordan School District, a school helping 18- to 22-year-olds with disabilities, primarily intellectual impairments, gain the life and vocational skills they need to become contributing, involved adults in their communities.
But it just might be that the students eventually become the teachers — about misperceptions, abilities and acceptance.
"There still is this perception that people with disabilities, they're scary, it's uncomfortable to be around them, it's awkward," South Valley principal Scott Thomas said. "But these folks are in the community, they're in Barnes & Noble, in Albertsons (working) ... and (some employers) are telling us, 'Your students are the best employees we have. They come to us job-ready, prepared ... and they stick with their job. They take it so serious.'"
The school and its Life Design program, and accelerated independent living and job training regimen, was featured last month in Working Mother magazine in a section honoring six schools nationwide for their partnerships with parents and the community. Council for Exceptional Children national delegates also visited the school last spring.
South Valley is for students with disabilities who have completed high school but not earned diplomas in Jordan District. They often are referred by high school teachers.
It has several programs, all focused on boosting independence based on each student's individually set goals. All students — about 150 are full-time — receive job training, often in their own areas of interest.
"Usually, education is, let's fix things you can't do," Thomas said. "We don't care much at this point what the students can't do. We focus on what they can do."
The school is like one big hands-on lab.
It has a wood shop, where part-time students learn to operate machines, basic math and measuring skills and teamwork. It also has a greenhouse, where students produce bedding plants, vegetables, poinsettias and herbs.
Forty community businesses partner with the school to help students learn basic work skills. Teachers often act as job coaches, helping students, bused to job sites, understand tasks and know how to dress professionally and greet co-workers and the public, South Valley teacher and job coach Stephanie Heller said. After each session, student and teacher evaluate their time spent, hoping students will learn to reflect on their tasks and capitalize on strengths.
Sometimes, students land jobs this way.
"It looks good on applications to say, 'I volunteered at your store for four months,"' said Lance Everill, South Valley opportunities coordinator.
Last week, students McMillan and Watt gussied up shelves and polished furniture at the Jordan Landing Barnes & Noble store as Heller supervised.
"It's fun," McMillan said.
All students also do personal planning, where they and peers note each student's strengths and devise personal goals. Families are called in to help flesh out where the student is headed and support the endeavors.
"It's twice as much work, but you get 10 times more benefit," Thomas said.
Here's why:
The school, a few years ago, found graduates were not working or participating in activities as the school had taught them to do. Instead, they were sitting at home.
They simply didn't know how to advocate for themselves, their parents didn't have the skills to help them, and without a teacher leaning over them all day, they couldn't transition into adult community life, school leaders say.
The school tried bolstering family supports, partly by training families how to help the students continue their successes, through parent seminars and support networks. Transitions since have improved.
And about 95 percent of those in the Life Design program remain active after graduation.
Life Design is an accelerated program for students who come to the school more ready for the workplace. They generally are placed in jobs, and when they're not working, gather in classrooms — last week, at the Jordan Applied Technology Center adjoined to Salt Lake Community College.
There, they learn to navigate public transportation, where their libraries are, and how to access community services. Teachers go to their homes, show them how to get on the UTA bus to school, for instance, until the student can do it by himself. The same concept goes in other independence skills, like grocery and comparison shopping, balancing a checkbook and getting jobs.
"Instead of us taking care of them ... we're trying to wean them away," teacher Kathy Foulks said, "so their life isn't such an abrupt change (after graduation)."
Students say they love where it's taken them in the world of work.
"I like it — just to help people," said Hutchings, who wants to earn a high school diploma.
"It's to prepare you to get out into the real world," student Jordan Baier said.
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com