by George J Elbaum
Esther B Clark School (EBC) is a private nonprofit therapeutic day school for children who are unable to attend and learn in a “normal” school setting due to circumstances such as behavior, mental health and emotional challenges. Students who are admitted into ECB’s basic therapeutic program are helped to access their grade level curriculum with accommodations when they are at emotional baseline, and are grouped according to age, social and educational needs. Program highlights are 6 hour school days to build academic skills in all subject areas, a highly structured, yet low stress positive behavior support and intervention system, Individual, group and family therapies, and a maximum class size of 12 like-aged students staffed by a team of 4 professionals: a credentialed special education teacher, a licensed therapist, a trained behaviorist and a classroom assistant. The school’s K-10th grades have a current enrollment of 52 students.
Behavior specialist Lesly Rios organized a special summer program to inspire students who believe that they are basically stuck where they are due to their background (race, low household income, single parent, adoption, etc.) and need to be taught how to advocate for themselves and express their needs. Noticing that these students react to and are motivated by real life scenarios, Lesly Rios organized this summer program (June-July) to focus on motivation by inviting a list of guest speakers for a series she calls “Why I do it Wednesdays.” These speakers would tell their story of achievement to the students, describing the hardships they faced, overcoming these hardships, and highlighting where they are now.
As part of this special program I was invited to speak to 12 students in 9th and 10th grades, as organized by Lesly Rios and teacher Cole Walton. While my favorite part of any presentation to students is the subsequent Q & A, this time it was an unexpected and especially rewarding experience because of the quality of the students’ questions: they were thoughtful, substantive, and serious, definitely above what I’d expect of typical 9th and 10th graders. One example is “How would you handle hate?” It was clear to me that the students were not only well prepared but were also considering how they should or would react in similar situations. I was and am very impressed!
Arrangements for my talk were made by Sadie Simon, Education Program Manager, JFCS Holocaust Center.
