Tanya Dayland
507-328-4350
tadayland@rochester.k12.mn.us
School Schedule:
- Monday – Thursday 7:20AM-2:00PM
- Friday 7:20AM-11AM
RAIL is a program with
the Rochester Public Schools that is designed for students between the ages of
18-21, who have a moderate to severe cognitive disability that requires close
supervision and assistance. It is for students who have already had four years
of the high school experience and need to move to a more adult setting. RAIL is
for students who need an adult setting, yet still have transition goals and
objectives to complete. RAIL will help prepare students for community and
work environments. RAIL will offer students an accessible site in an
adult setting with moderate to intense support.
MISSION:
The mission of the RAIL Program is to prepare students to live meaningful and
productive lives by providing them with skills and knowledge necessary to make
an effective transition from school to adult life.
RATIONALE:
The rationale behind the RAIL proposal is that students in grades 9-12 have
very different needs than students who are ages 18-21. It is important
that students in grades 9-12 gain as much as they can while enjoying the
experience of being in high school. However, once a student reaches age
18, the focus of the student’s program shifts to a more intense preparation for
adult life. Spending additional time at the high school is not effective
in preparing students for the real life experiences that they will have as an
adult. Students need to have a setting that will prepare them for adult
services. They need to have real life experiences that will help them
reach their transition goals.
RAIL provides a
community and life-based educational model, separate from the high school
setting. Program focus is on transition goals, individualized for each
student. Students develop and utilize supports in the community that will
be important for them in their adult lives. Opportunities are provided
for learning to be community based through the transition domains:
vocational, home living, community participation, recreation/leisure, and
post-secondary education.
Students have
opportunities to develop independent living skills such as:
- Self-care
- Food preparation
- Cleaning
- Safety
- Health
- Clothing care
- Money management
- Recreation/leisure
- Job training
FOCUS:
The focus of the
RAIL program is on:
-skills for independent
living
-service learning
-job training
-sheltered to supported
employment
-connections to adult
and community services
The staff at RAIL
provides specially designed instruction and practice to develop skills while
providing a safety net so that students learn from challenges they may
experience.
Transportation:
Rochester Public Schools will provide a means of transportation through
district buses, vans, or outside agency vehicles.
Dress:
RAIL is designed to prepare students for the adulthood. We encourage
dress-casual attire. Clothing should be clean, free of holes, and
presentable for being in public places. Students should present a
positive appearance, as they will be in public frequently.
Lunch:
We have cafeteria
service at RAIL. If you want to use this, you are responsible for having
money in your account. Hot lunches are prepared at Mayo High school and
delivered to ESC. Students wanting hot lunch need to indicate this upon
check-in every day. If students are not at RAIL first thing in the morning and
want hot lunch, they are expected to call the main RAIL phone and inform staff.
Students also have the option of bringing lunches from home.
Refrigeration and microwaves are available. Students are encouraged to
label containers. There are vending machines available in the building
with limited snack and beverage options.
Lockers:
Are available for
students to keep belongings safe.
Curriculum:
RAIL’s curriculum will focus around the transition areas.
Home Living:
While some students continue to live with their parents and/or family members,
others may live away from their parents in group home settings. Home
living supporting agencies include Cardinal of Minnesota, Hiawatha Homes, REM,
Zumbro House and MSOCs.
RAIL staff maintains
contact with those providing support to students in their homes, so that
learned skills are transferred to their home living environment. School
staff visits the residential homes. Additionally, parents and residential
support staff visit RAIL. These visits improve communication between the
home and school, and enable great consistency to occur between environments in
teaching and reinforcing practical living skills. Adaptive materials used
at school can be duplicated for use in the home environment.
The home living domain
of transition includes a wide range of skill areas: self-care, food
preparation, cleaning, safety, health, clothing care and money
management.
Students also get
experience preparing basic food items. An occupational therapist accesses
student skills and teaches them how to use adaptations to accommodate for
limitations in their skills or abilities.
Self-care and safety
issues emerge as students learn about expected weather conditions and dress
accordingly. Students need assistance completing self-care skills; these
including toileting, grooming, and dressing.
Students share
responsibility for keeping the classroom areas clean. They learn about
storing food properly in the refrigerator. Sharing responsibilities for
cleaning up common areas broadens their awareness for their adult
responsibilities of cleaning up after themselves at an option to work
lunchroom, as well as in their own homes.
*Community
Participation:
The school district will
provide transportation to travel to and from RAIL to home and to access the
community. Some students may be eligible for ZIPS, the door-to-door
public transportation service. If a potentially eligible student has not
applied for this service, RAIL staff assists the student’s guardian in
completing this process. Once students are eligible for the service, they
begin using it. This requires advanced planning, as trip requests must be
called in to a dispatcher a day before the ride is desired. RAIL staff
will assist the student in contacting the dispatcher.
Citizenship skills
increase as students become increasingly aware of their community. Trips
to grocery stores, the library, etc. allow the student the opportunity to
become familiar with what is available in their community. A vision for
RAIL is to provide weekly trips for the students to go on out into the
community.
Work:
Students at RAIL will be provided with occupational awareness
activities. The vocational teacher along with the DCD-SP teacher
will create job experiences for the individual to try while at RAIL. The
main objective for these experiences will be for students to increase their one
task time and complete the task with more independence. A second
objective for students is teaching them how to handle their feelings and
emotions appropriately and develop social skills that are appropriate for the
work place/recreation/leisure program.
Recreation/Leisure:
Students at RAIL will be provided with a variety of recreation/leisure
activities. A vision for RAIL is to make the students active participants
in their health. Students will have daily physical activities planned
into their schedule. At least one time per week, students will access
some community site to do a recreation/leisure activity. Examples of
recreation/leisure activities include: swimming at the Y, walking around Silver
Lake, bowling, going to a movie, going to the library, etc.
RAIL is a program for
students receiving special education services who have completed beneficial high school classes and demonstrate a continuing need for special
education services to develop independent living skills to be active
participants in their community. Through review of evaluation information
and IEP goal progress data, the student and IEP Team members develop an
awareness of skills that may need to be enriched or developed in order to
prepare the student for adult life.