Rise School of Stillwater to offer unique benefits

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The nation’s seventh Rise School will open in Stillwater this fall thanks to state officials and others who have made it possible to bring the national flagship program for children with disabilities to Oklahoma.

The Rise School of Stillwater, located at Stillwater Head Start until a permanent location is built, will partner closely with Oklahoma State University. Each classroom will be staffed with a teacher with a master’s degree and experience in teaching children with disabilities, as well as two full-time teaching assistants.

“We can’t thank Rep. Lee Denney, Sen. Mike Morgan and Gov. Brad Henry enough for making $550,000 in funding a reality,” said Dana Hilbert, director of the Rise School of Stillwater. “The support of state school Superintendent Sandy Garrett and the State Education Department also was instrumental.”

Denney is credited with spearheading the work to secure state funding for the Rise School. The school is also possible because of the vision of the Mya Gonzales Foundation and the generosity of T. Boone Pickens, who laid the foundation for it.

The goal for children at Rise School is to receive personal attention from teachers, a special curriculum and specific intervention therapies that will ultimately allow each to graduate with a high school degree.

The Rise School will also provide crucial hands-on internship and observation opportunities for college students majoring in early childhood education and special education, which will train and better prepare them to teach in Oklahoma classrooms.

“Students who participate in the teacher-training program will learn to match children’s needs with appropriate instructional methods according to each child’s developmental and physical abilities,” said Dr. Christine Johnson, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Human Environmental Sciences at OSU.

“When these students become teachers in Oklahoma’s pre-schools and elementary schools, the Rise School will have a multiplier effect and benefit hundreds of special needs children throughout the state.”

The Rise School in Stillwater will be especially unique compared to the nation’s other Rise Schools because the university setting will allow faculty members to conduct well-designed, long-term research.

“These studies will begin as soon as the school is open and document the developmental outcomes of the children being served, but also provide cost-benefit ratios for the state,” Johnson said.

The seed funding to develop the Rise School came partly from a $425,000 gift from T. Boone Pickens to the Mya Gonzales Foundation last November. The Mya Gonzales Foundation was formed by OSU Director of Football Operations Jimmy Gonzales and his wife, Mary, in March 2006. Their daughter, Mya Gonzales, was born with Down Syndrome in July 2005.