Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) officials are hoping the trend with its postsecondary education program continues and that residents understand its importance.
The program allows developmentally disabled students ages 18 to 22 to continue learning through the district. Students with moderate to severe disabilities learn essential skills at the district’s farm, located on Peterson Middle School’s campus. Monday through Friday, the students navigate public transit and do a few hours of work at the farm before returning.
What sort of work students perform is based on their individual education plan (IEP), said Michelle Ray, a special education teacher in the postsecondary education program. That plan details each student’s capabilities so educators can assign them work based on what interests each student as well as their capabilities.
Ray said the program is more important than many people likely realize.
“It gives [students] a sense of autonomy, a sense of worth. They come away with pride,” she said. “Each year there are more demands put on the students and challenge them to do things they don’t think they can do.”
Although they are prohibited from operating machinery, students do nearly everything else at the farm, including harvesting, pulling up ground cover, dead-heading plants, planting, washing produce, collecting eggs and watering plants.
The program has between five and seven students, based on interest, most of whom have stuck around since the program’s inception in 2018.
In the past year and a half, increased funding for the program has allowed the district to shift the program from a volunteer program to a job for students.
“Instead of going and getting a retail job or something like that, it gives them vocational training,” said Angie Scott, assistant principal of the postsecondary education program. “It is putting the postsecondary students in a different light.”
In addition to allowing the students to earn their own money, it teaches essential life skills. They learn to navigate public transit, socialize by working with other students and farm employees, and punch a timecard.
The program has been a smash with both parents and students alike.
“I like seeing the chickens and getting the eggs and seeing how many they have. I like harvesting tomatoes because it’s fun,” said Rebecca T., one of the program’s students. “It’s important to me, because I feel like I’m responsible and safe and respectful. The people and staff make me feel special. I learned when it’s right to pick vegetables and when it’s not.”
And the program exposes students to things they might otherwise not try, Ray said.
Mason M., another student in the program, said he ate apples, something he normally doesn’t eat, adding that the farm is “fun.”
A greenhouse planned for the site will soon allow students to work year-round.
Scott said the program is showing what postsecondary students can achieve. As the program continues to grow, both Scott and Ray said they would love to see it afford students an opportunity to carve out a career within the district.
