Celebrating its 25-year anniversary this year, Gloucester County Special Services School District has recently undergone a branding refresh, including a new name, but the commitment to students remains the same. Now called the Schools for Neurodiversity at Gloucester County Special Services School District (GCSSSD), the mission is to enable its students with special needs to become lifelong learners, positive contributors to the community, problem solvers, productive workers, and ethical decision makers, while achieving academic standards. This new name also reflects their expanded partnership with local community college branches of Rowan University.
In addition to the people who work at each school who make it an individualized place for students to learn, grow, and thrive, the customized programming and wide range of opportunities that are available are really what set the special services districts apart. While each student’s goals and level of independence is unique, the shared mission of all special services districts is to help them achieve that goal. GCSSSD has its own unique way of accomplishing this mission through specialized services and trained professionals who work individually with students to see them through their educational journey.
GCSSSD Campuses
GCSSSD offers programs for students in Gloucester and Cumberland Counties and beyond through a network of campuses. Bankbridge Elementary, Bankbridge Development Center, and Bankbridge Regional offer programs for students, from preschool through 12th grade, with special needs. These programs focus on the development of a system where students can effectively communicate their needs and feelings, increase interaction, and enhance adaptive behaviors. A secondary focus is to provide functional, skill-based instruction to develop each student’s social, behavioral, and academic abilities while supporting their unique needs.
Young adults are offered opportunities through the Career Center, which helps prepare them for navigating the job market.
GCSSSD has a Career Center designed specifically for students ages 18 to 21. This program provides opportunities that focus on enhancing each student’s ability to navigate the job market with an emphasis on skills needed to obtain and uphold a job. Internships are available through local business partners and individualized job coaching is provided to support students as they transition into gainful employment and self-sufficiency.
“Our dynamic buildings are full of exceptional staff members who are doing amazing things with students every day,” said James H. Dundee, Jr., Superintendent, GCSSSD. “Working individually with our students, it is our shared goal to ensure our students’ confidence and independence as they continue on their personal journey of growth, and we are proud to be a part of that process.”
Working in a cafe helps students gain valuable vocational, educational and social skills.
The Career Center offers programs designed to help young adults ages 18 to 21 gain the vocational, educational and social skills necessary to become independent and contributing members of the community. In addition to these programs, the Career Center students can participate in Unified Sports. Designed to team together special education students with their general education peers, United Sports offers a way for students from across the district to interact with one another and engage in recreational sports.
Participating in athletics offers a recreational activity that encourages social interactions and teamwork.
A huge advantage for GCSSSD and their students is its proximity to and relationship with Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ), Rowan College of Gloucester County (RCGC), and Rowan Medicine. For example, the Career Center is located on the RCSJ campus, which enhances the range of opportunities for students.
GCSSSD has related services providers available for students who are patients at Rowan Medicine. This offering makes scheduling appointments even more convenient for parents who can accomplish a medical appointment as well as a therapy appointment in one stop. The therapy appointment can be made with a GCSSSD staff member who has an established relationship with their child, which creates a more productive session and helps work toward achieving the goals within their plan of care.
The relationship with RCGC allows GCSSSD students access to all of their resources as well as community-based instruction opportunities. They have a robust culinary program on campus, which offers practical experience for GCSSSD students to expose them to peers at different age levels and give them the opportunity to interact with the public which helps build confidence and life-skills. There are other fields that students can explore here too, such as maintenance, grounds keeping, completing office work, a laundry service for the athletics department, all which help lead the student toward future employment.
At the Together Cafe, students work in a real cafe serving visitors to the Rowan Medicine campus.
The Together Cafe, operated on the RCSJ campus, offers real-world working experience for students supervised by GCSSSD staff members. Students are assigned specific jobs through an internship and then they progress into employees who then help oversee the interns.
Special Programs
In addition to these campus-based programs, GCSSSD also offers services to local non-public schools through the Division for Educational Support or DESS. This program offers services to the 28 school districts in Gloucester County and is operated by the GCSSSD to support and supplement the programs provided in a district’s own schools.
GCSSSD provides regional migrant education services for children in nine counties around the state. Through this program, GCSSSD provides supplemental instructional and supportive services for eligible children to fill any gaps in their education. Services to these students are provided based on assessed needs and include resource and intervention assistance to other local school districts with children of migrant workers enrolled. As part of this program, GCSSSD provides after-school tutoring to students with the greatest need, as well as other important services including medical, dental and vision care, and home/school coordination.
There has been a rebirth of arts within the district, and it started at the elementary level. Different options for students are available, like performing arts, dance and visual arts. The district hosted an art show this past school year, where student-produced art was displayed around the school and families were invited to come in and tour the showcased projects. GCSSSD is also looking to revive their annual drama production, where each classroom performs a musical act either through dance, singing, or a combination of both. A theme is chosen for this, and elaborate sets are created to match the theme and take the audience through a story created by the students.
Students displayed their masterpieces at an Art Show. Families were welcome to come in and tour the showcased projects.
Another part of the GCSSSD experience that helps students develop into well-rounded individuals is an athletics component. GCSSSD offers Special Olympics bowling, basketball, and volleyball, intramural soccer and Miracle League baseball. Through the Miracle League, buddies from local school districts volunteer to help and cheer on the GCSSSD team. There is an opening day ceremony with all the same fanfare and food as the town recreational leagues. The social and physical interactions afforded by these opportunities are endless and benefit the students in various ways.
Students can participate in Project SEARCH, where they gain employment experience through internships.
GCSSSD has a partnership with Project SEARCH, which offers a nine-month internship program for students with developmental disabilities with the goal of gaining competitive employment. GCSSSD students must apply and be accepted to this opportunity, where they rotate through three unpaid internships, within a local hospital, government, or business settings. Our students benefit from learning job skills, but more than that they gain independence and confidence, which are valuable traits for seeking and finding employment.
Evolving Education to Fit Students’ Needs
During the past few years, GCSSSD has noticed that the needs of their students are evolving, and programming needs to shift in response to this evolution. That’s why the district will spend the next school year focused on blending these three components of special education: instructional, clinical, and transition vocational. The district is bringing a clinical coordinator and instructional coordinator on board for each building, and classrooms will become more focused on trauma-informed practices.
A renewed emphasis on functional skills will take place and mesh this experience with real-world math and reading. Starting vocational planning at the elementary level is also part of the plan, along with getting middle school-aged students out into the community more and earlier to develop their skills and identify likes and dislikes. All of these align with the goal of preparing students for independence.
Admissions practices have also undergone an update. Now, a team of nursing, related services providers, and social workers are part of the intake and evaluation process. This new practice ensures that the GCSSSD only accepts students whose needs would be fulfilled by the available programming.
Another unique part of the GCSSSD curriculum is ensuring students are in and a part of the community as much as possible. Outings to the mall provide a speech therapy opportunity, where a student must place their own order for lunch, as well as honing math and reading skills when ordering and paying for their meals and for shopping items. A scavenger hunt is a fun activity used as a functional tool to help students navigate the mall and sharpen their budgeting and social skills at the same time. Many of these activities are done with minimal supervision to support the kind of independence students can achieve and look forward to in the future.
Continuing Resources
As students age out of GCSSSD’s programs, the district strives to maintain a connection with families and serve as a valued partner throughout their journeys. Families are provided with guidance and planning as they approach their next steps in life. For example, staff members help facilitate connections between families and outside agencies who can offer assistance and additional support services. There are also social skills training sessions available and transition nights to connect young adults with work opportunities.
“The end goal is to teach all of our students how to thrive to the best of their abilities in the community and engage within their community,” said Dundee. “Our staff members offer meaningful, individualized opportunities for growth in multiple aspects of their lives – social, emotional, and academic.”
There are many other new programs that are in the works for GCSSSD as they progress through this exciting period, and we are excited to share updates on their advancement.
For more information on GCSSSD and their programs, please visit the district website at gcsssd.org.