Published on August 1, 2024
On July 1, 2024, the Warwick School District was made aware that they had been awarded $14,660.00 for participation in the 2024-2026 Developing Future Special Educators Grant. Warwick is one of 77 school districts, intermediate units, and colleges/universities across Pennsylvania that have been awarded the grant for the 2024-2026 cycle.
The purpose of the grant is to provide Local Education Agencies (LEA) and Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) grantees an opportunity to develop or expand Experiential Learning Opportunities (ELO) to engage secondary/postsecondary students in learning about and/or working with students with disabilities as a means to inspire the next generation of special educators. This grant is part of the Attract, Prepare, Retain (APR) initiative created through the Bureau of Special Education. More information on the APR initiative can be found at this website: https://sites.google.com/pattan.net/pa-apr/home.
“This grant is a great opportunity to provide high school students with a look inside the field of special education through a variety of learning experiences.” - Megan Demianovich, Director of Student Services.
The Warwick School District currently offers three Unified classes that allow general education students to partner with students enrolled in special education courses. The district’s current Unified courses include Unified Art, Unified Music, and Unified PE. With the received grant funds, the district intends to purchase additional materials to support students in the Unified Technology Education course that will be offered during the 2025-2026 school year. Additionally, the district is aiming to use grant funds to offer additional instruction to general education students enrolled in the Unified courses. This additional instruction will include information about disability awareness, how to help and support their peers in Unified courses, and will provide students with opportunities to learn more about the world of special education.
“We have amazing students in our district who are looking for opportunities to learn more about special education and staff who want to support students in exploring careers in education.” - Megan Demianovich.
The district is greatly looking forward to seeing its vision come to fruition with the use of grant money.