Every day, the horrors of war push at least one Iraq or Afghanistan war veteran to commit suicide — a statistic that 1,600 new mental health professionals throughout the nation’s Veterans Affairs (VA) system will soon begin fighting.
The federal announcement of the increase in clinic staff follows a 35 percent increase in demand for mental health help across the country, said Rep. Marcy Kaptur.
She said the change is a transformative one.
“This is a legislative battle that I have fought in Washington since my early years. It’s been three decades of effort to try to get the Department of Veterans Affairs to give equal attention to neurological damage as they do to spinal cord injury,” Kaptur said.
At least nine of the new mental health professionals are coming to theToledo and Ann Arbor region, following a few years of increased mental health service requests.
Since 2007, the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, which operates Toledo’s Outpatient VA Clinic, has added 30 percent more mental health staff, said Robert McDivitt, director of the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System.
The announcement also coincides with Toledo’s new outpatient VA clinic, slated to open this fall.
The current clinic on Glendale Avenue was built in 1978 and covers 30,000 square feet. It will move into a new space at 1200 S. Detroit Ave. that will cover 66,000 square feet.
McDivitt said the system expects to care for 12,000 veterans this year.
A few years ago the clinic was handling at least 2,000 fewer patients.
The Toledo clinic has 110 staff members and the new one will employ about 122.
“We really outgrew the space,”McDivitt said. Increased local service
In the past, patients needing cardiac stress testing, diagnostic testing for blood flow problems and audiology testing services had to travel to Ann Arbor for treatment. But the Toledo clinichas added some of these services within the past year, and will soon build on them further with the new building.
Doctors will be able to perform occupational therapy in the new facility, a service not available at the Glendale Avenue location, said Leo Greenstone, associate chief of stafffor ambulatory care.
The system is also recruiting a psychologist to conduct compensation and pension exams for the first time in Toledo, a service that vets were traveling to Cleveland for in the past, McDivitt said.
Telemedicine has helped boost treatment at the Toledo clinic as well, linking a doctor in Ann Arbor into a video conference with patients in Toledo to save local veterans a few trips north, said Stephen Chermack, chief of mental health.
Caring for patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a process that varies with each veteran, Chermack said. Treatment typically consists of a combination of pharmaceutical drugs and psychotherapy. He said some veterans choose to stabilize other factors in their lives before starting to address memories that trigger depression and reoccurring, disturbing thoughts.
More work needed
Kaptur said more work still needs to be done. Patients will still be unable to access infusion treatments for cancer. A free bus transports 40 to 60 veterans a day from the Toledo clinic to the Ann Arbor hospital.
“The Ann Arbor Veterans Hospital is a massive facility and because it’s so large it consumes a lot of time in finding parking. We have vets who go up there for cancer infusions, they’re made to wait all day to go back on the bus and it’s not very pleasant,” Kaptur said. “And for those with neurological conditions, you have to have services close to where people live and work. To make someone travel an hour and wait all day and wait weeks for an appointment doesn’t work.”
The Arms Forces
A Maumee woman founded a nonprofit called The Arms Forces in 2009 because of what she saw as a lag in services for people s u f f e r i n g from traumatic brain injury and PTSD . Pam Hays, herself a traumatic brain injury survivor, has since linked at least 200 veterans to services that will help them cope. She and a volunteer coordinator are the main operators of the organization.
“It’s a complicated, convoluted system for anyone, and if you have someone coming back with a brain injury or PTSD , they’re going to have cognitive challenges and they’re going to have a much more difficult time accessing that system,” Hays said. “The way we try to do everything is very simplified. We want to meet [veterans] where they are rather than get them to go through hoops to find help.”
The Ann Arbor system is adopting a similar model by initiating an outreach program that sends social workers into communities to search for veterans who may not be linked to VA health services yet, McDivitt said. The system now has six outreach workers who work with homeless and formerly homeless vets.
The new Toledo clinic is designed to not only serve medical needs but educational needs as well. McDivitt described the new layout as a “healing environment,” equipped with a coffee shop and Internet cafe where families can gather. The new site will feature a
veteran resource center and a community meeting room, as well as a “wall of heroes” on which Toledo-area veterans can post their photographs. The design of the new place is “bright, open and sunny,” touched with artwork that is centered around veterans, he said.
“Our mission here in the VA begins with the three words, ‘Honor America’s veterans,’ and you’re going to see that mission reflected from the time the veteran comes inthe new clinic until he or she leaves,” McDivitt said.
For more information, visit www.annarbor.va.gov.
Don Zellers considers himself the typical Toledo taxpayer.
At 41, Zellers is married and, for the first time in his life, the owner of a house, which he and his wife purchased five years ago. In October, Zellers, who has lived in the Toledo area all his life, lost his job with Clear Channel Toledo after surviving a few rounds of cutbacks.
Zellers works part-time positions with Clear Channel and Great Lakes Trivia, and began freelance writing for local publications, including restaurant reviews for Star, after being out of work for a month and a half.
He said he feels frustrated and overwhelmed with the seven levies Lucas County voters will face Nov. 6: five county levies, the Toledo Public Schools (TPS) 6.9-mill continuing levy for those in the TPS district and the 1-mill Parks and Recreation levy for Toledo citizens.
“A lot of people, including myself, are not getting raises and are making less money than they did last year, but the city expects us to pay more,” Zellers said. “And if you’re already making less money, where is that money supposed to come from? … It’s not like I’m living in abject poverty, but I’m definitely not living on the high horse.”
As an on-air personality with Fred LeFebvre on the 1370 AM WSPD morning show, Zellers has become the face of a station campaign to address the “levy fatigue” and its effect on the wallets of county taxpayers.
“What about Don?” is the question LeFebvre asks his listeners to consider when they head to the polls this November.
“We want people to begin to think of Don and themselves when they go to vote,” LeFebvre said. “It’s an individual choice, not a group or city choice.
“Think — do you want to raise your taxes? Can you afford it?”
Toledo-Lucas County Public Library
The Toledo-Lucas County Public Library is placing a 2.9-mill levy on the ballot that if passed will replace and increase their 2-mill levy, which is due to expire at the end of this year. The current 2-mill levy has been in effect for four years. The proposed levy will not require renewal for five years.
The levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $88.80 per year for five years, according to a newsletter on the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce’s website, toledochamber.com. This is a $27.55 per-year increase from the $61.25 taxpayers owning $100,000 homes have paid each year since 2007.
Rhonda Sewell, library media relations coordinator, said this levy is expected to generate $21 million to $23 million per year, which she said accounts for about half of the library’s budget. The other half is provided by the State of Ohio Public Library Fund (PLF).
A library operating levy has not been defeated since 1977. Sewell said a capital levy failed in 1991 but when reintroduced in 1995, it passed with 74 percent of the vote.
Clyde Scoles, executive director of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, said the 1995 capital levy was one of the largest bond issues passed
in Lucas County at the time. It upgraded, expanded and modernized the library system, Scoles said.
In 2009, 17.8 percent of the library’s state aid was cut. Since then, about 27 percent of library hours have been cut. The Sanger branch on West Central Avenue is the only library left with Sunday hours. Sewell said the library is operating at 1996 levels of funding from the state.
While Sewell said the library cannot promise all previously cut hours will be restored, the levy is expected to return the hours, staff members and materials lost in the cuts. Scoles said 50 percent of the current hours may have to be cut if this levy does not pass.
Scoles said he is hoping the increased levy generates $5 million to $6 million more per year for the library system that recorded nearly 3 million visits in 2011. Scoles and Sewell cite the variety of services the branch provided by the 19 neighborhood branches, where attendance has remained high during tough economic times, as reasons voters should support the library levy.
“We’re not talking so much about helping the library system but saving the library system,” Scoles said. “… People come for a variety of reasons — job information, homework help. Businessmen come in and grow their businesses using our databases and the expertise of business librarians and information centers. All of that would be curtailed quite a bit if our budget was cut by 50 percent.
Metroparks of Toledo Area
Metroparks of Toledo Area plans to become the most recent addition to the ballot for Lucas County voters, as the board of directors decided July 25 to place a 0.9-mill levy before voters in November.
The 0.9-mill levy would replace the 0.3-mill levy that expires at the end of its ten-year term on Dec. 31. If passed, the 0.9-mill levy will require renewal in 10 years.
This levy provides the funds for the
Metropark system’s land acquisition, improvement projects and park operations, said Executive Director Steve Madewell.
The Metroparks’ 1.4-mill general operating levy, which is also a ten-year levy, is not set to expire for another five years.
According to the The Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $27.56 per year, an increase of $19.10 from the $8.46 citizens pay to the current levy.
The last time a Metroparks levy failed was in the early 1990s, said Scott Carpenter, director of public relations for Metroparks. It was presented to the county the following year and passed.
Because of the long-term nature of Metropark projects, this upcoming levy would help finish projects at various stages of planning including the Middlegrounds in Downtown, the Blue Creek Conservation Area in Whitehouse and the Fallen Timbers Battlefield in Maumee, Carpenter said.
It would also provide for purchasing new land and maintaining the current parks.
“In addition to the completion of those projects, it would go toward the replacement and maintenance of restrooms, picnic areas, shelters and things like that,” Madewell said. “What we’re really focused on is preserving natural areas of open space and keeping clean, safe, natural and free Metroparks across the county.”
Lucas County Children Services
Lucas County Children Services will be represented on November’s ballot with a 1.85-mill levy. This is a 0.85 increase from the current levy, which will expire its five-year term in December 2013.
If passed, collection on the 1.85-mill levy wouldn’t start until 2014 and would continue for five years. Julie Malkin, the agency’s public information officer, said the agency is placing the issue on the ballot this year to better plan their finances in the coming year.
The 1.85-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $56.66 per year, an increase of $26.04 on the current $30.62 per year paid to the 1-mill levy, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
Last year, voters approved a 1.4-mill levy for Children Services that will require renewal at the end of its five-year term. Combined, the agency would receive 3.25-mills from the county’s citizens, a decrease from the 3.5-mills the agency collected in 2001.
“We decreased our levy millage because we felt like we didn’t need to collect that much from taxpayers. We want to have a sound financial standing so that we make sure the children in Lucas County are safe,” Malkin said.
Federal funding, which makes up the bulk of the remainder of the agency’s funding, has been cut over the years. Malkin said local levy dollars are matched by federal dollars, so if the levy does not pass, more federal funding will be cut.
“We’ve been able to maintain the staffing levels of people that actually go out and see kids,” Executive Director Dean Sparks said. “Internally we have done everything we can to become a leaner system.”
The agency will have to cut $800,000 out of its budget if the levy passes, Sparks said. If it doesn’t pass, $13 million to $14 million of the agency’s $43 million will have to be cut.
“If it doesn’t end up passing this time or next time, that’s going to affect direct services for kids, services we contract for,” Sparks said. “We spend $350,000 for substance abuse services. Child advocacy contracts would be in danger, mentoring and tutoring for children would be in danger, not to mention there would be a significant layoff of our staff.”
Imagination Station
Imagination Station will ask voters to renew its 0.17-mill levy, which is set to expire at the end of 2013. The new levy would not take effect until 2014 and would continue for five years.
Executive Director Lori Hauser said the levy would generate about $1.3 million of the organization’s $3.2 million revenue by costing owners of a $100,000 home $5.21 a year.
Lori Hauser
The other $1.9 million is earned money, which comes from gate admission, memberships, corporate sponsorships, development and donations.
Twenty-seven percent of the nonprofit science center’s public funds go to exhibit maintenance and rental, Hauser said.
The rest goes to general operations and science education.
“We aren’t here to replace schools, we are here to work with schools,” Hauser said. “We’re wanting to get [kids] excited about [science]. Those are the careers of the future and we want to educate our youth.”
Hauser said corporations have invested $1.5 million in exhibits since 2009, including “Eat it Up!” with ProMedica and “Grow U” with The Andersons.
Hauser said Imagination Station is going on the ballot this fall because in case the levy does fail, like it did in 2006 and 2007 when it was called COSI, the extra time before the levy expires will give the center the opportunity to talk to citizens of Lucas County and find out their concerns and suggestions.
Mental Health and Recovery Services
The Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County has placed a 10-year, 1-mill levy on the ballot. The board’s last levy renewal was passed in 2008, so this levy would generate new money for the agency.
Executive Director Scott Sylak said the agency has not asked taxpayers for new money in 24 years.
This levy would cost $30.62 per year for the owner of a $100,000 home, according to the Chamber of Commerce. This is in addition to the levy dollars already being collected by the agency’s 2008 levy.
“Basically, over the last six years, including this fiscal year, we’ve lost nearly $7 million. We’ve had to utilize $3 million of our reserves. We’ve cut our services by about $3.9 million and used $3 million of cash to supplement those losses to make up that gap. The issue now is we no longer have the reserve to supplement (our funds). We have no choice but to ask for new, additional dollars,” Sylak said.
Sylak said the agency has cut board and administrative services by more than 25 percent and has worked with its provider networks to improve the efficiency of the system and implement outcome measures to determine how effective the services are. Non-management staff has received one small pay increase in the past five years while executive and management staff haven’t received any increase.
“We don’t plan on increasing the amount of administration with these dollars at this time. We will critically evaluate the services that are most important to reinvest in, including treatment, medicine, housing, crisis support services and the expansion of kids services,” Sylak said.
Sylak said the levy will get the agency close to the dollar amount it has lost during the past six years.
Division of Recreation
Toledo City Council approved a new 1-mill levy for this November’s ballot, which would require renewal in 10 years.
Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel said the levy is expected to generate about $3 million per year for parks and recreation maintenance and programming.
Owners of a $100,000 home would pay $30.62 per year if the levy passed, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
Steel said Toledo has never had a recreation levy but almost every other community in the area has, including Maumee, Oregon and Sylvania.
Recreation funding comes from the city’s general fund, and when cuts must be made, parks and recreation funding is at the top of the list, Steel said. If this levy is passed, he said, the general fund might be loosened up for other city endeavors.
A task force of community members created a report that suggested multiple recommendations for raising funds for the recreation division. Steel said in addition to a levy, recommendations included charging for parking and admission into city swimming pools.
Steel said the city already charges admission into its pools and parking at Walbridge Park. Steel said other options they could have chosen were increasing summer baseball recreational league fees and charging for parking at all park locations.
City Council also chose to use funds from the Athletic Commission to fund a master plan. The master plan will determine what is needed from the city parks system and implement decisions made by citizens.
“We need to look at what is needed overall for recreation. Where are the gaps and what can the city do to fill those gaps?” Steel said.
Councilman Mike Craig has asked the city administration to hold off on demolishing the pools that have been identified for demolition. Steel plans to join Craig’s effort until taxpayers have the chance to create a dedicated funding stream for city recreation by passing this November’s levy.
Toledo Public Schools
Toledo Public Schools (TPS) is asking taxpayers to approve a new 6.9-mill continuing levy, which according to the Chamber of Commerce will cost the owner of a $100,000 home $211.28 per year.
The district is under investigation by the Ohio Department of Education for attempting to erase low attendance records by retroactively withdrawing and re-enrolling frequently absent students. Pecko went public with the district’s actions last week.
Jerome Pecko
The money from the levy would fund the district’s current transformation program and balance the budget beyond the 2012-13 school year. While the 2012-13 budget is currently balanced, a failed levy in November would mean drastic cuts the following year.
“Without additional funding at this time, the district will have to cut an excess of $15 million before the beginning of the 2013-14 school year,” TPS Superintendent Jerome Pecko said at a news conference in May.
“6.9-mill is not going to get us what we need but we think that the community can support it,” said Jim Gault, chief academic officer for TPS.
The school system has made staff cuts along with cutting middle school sports and ninth-grade sports, the gifted program in grades three through six, busing for high schools and altogether eliminating Libbey High School. TPS has since brought back some of the sports programs.
Pecko said that the proposed levy would allow the district to pursue a new district-wide discipline program, a unified student data program for parents and teachers, the gifted program for grades three through six and employee evaluations based on student performance.
School Board President Lisa Sobecki urged voters to consider what the levy provides.
“I’ve personally had to do this in my own life: looking at our home budget and putting values behind choices, and I would ask the citizens of Toledo to do that and put values behind those budgets and think of the students that we serve and look at what they’ll be doing some day. They might be your pharmacist, your lawyer … we need to have an opportunity for a solid foundation.”
In November 2010, TPS proposed Issue 5, a 7.8-mill levy which voters rejected. That levy, which would have generated roughly $21.6 million, was the second to fail in 2010 as TPS attempted to meet its $40 million deficit.
Issue 5 would have been the highest millage amount passed for TPS in the past four decades, and the first levy passed for TPS since 2001.
Umbrella levy
Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken has suggested discussing an “umbrella” levy, encompassing all health and human services issues. Gerken said a few members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Citizens’ Review Committee are interested in being the sounding board for such a discussion, which Gerken said will likely occur after the November election.
“I think everyone has some thoughts about the number of levies and the crossover of services like human resources, finances and ‘backroom operations’ the organizations all do separately,” Gerken said.
Gerken said Ohio’s Montgomery County does a health and human services umbrella levy, and Gerken wants to facilitate a discussion to see if that could possibly work in Lucas County. Gerken said he does not know about the success or failure Montgomery’s levy has had.
“Any discussion we have will be unique to Lucas County. Certainly the concept of doing things in a coordinated fashion makes sense to me,” Gerken said.
Gerken said he has no notion of how the funds from this levy would be distributed, but said collection by the auditor and distribution by the commissioners is one idea to discuss.
“We may find out it doesn’t work, but until we sit down and everyone puts down their pieces we won’t know,” Gerken said. “Eventually, there’s going to be winners and losers. With evaluations down 12 percent, there’s less resources and we owe it to everybody to start working together.”
Adding it up
If the seven levies are passed in November, the cost to taxpayers owning a $100,000 home would be $450.75, up $105.54 per year, according to the Chamber of Commerce.
Once property evaluations received feedback from the state at the end of October, citizens will be able to calculate the exact amount they will owe in property taxes on the Auditor’s Real Estate Information System, available online at co.lucas.oh.us.
“I know people need money and there’s some good causes out there,” Zellers said. “But I don’t know this time. I’m not sure. … I don’t know if I can vote for any of them. I’ll have to really look at them all and decide.”
Editorial cartoon by Don Lee for the Toledo Free Press.
Have you ever been to an authentic Polish wedding? If so, you probably partook in a festive dance called the Grand March. Couples snake across the dance floor in a long line to the beat of Notre Dame’s fight song.
When the weaving stops, the pairs form parallel columns, and the last couple in line
has to pass under the arch of all the upraised arms ahead of them.
Naughty twosomes randomly drop their locked limbs and ensnare the runners, knowing that the only escape is a kiss for the trapper of the opposite sex. Although the scent of dozens of exposed, polka-infused shoulder hollows could be considered torturous, it simplydoesn’t compare with what history records to have transpired when a person ran between two rows of people in the past.
When you hear the term, “running the gantlet,” (and yes, the correct spelling is gantlet, not gauntlet) do you first think of the Native American accounts of its use? It seems embedded in our culture that this torture was something the Indians designed and used on captives. However, the truth is that this practice goes back to antiquity.
The earliest stories of its purpose come from ancient Rome. Marcus Crassus was one who decimated — meaning he put to death one tenth of his legion for the cowardice shown during the gladiator wars against the renowned Spartacus. Units of ten men would cast lots and the loser was forced to run between two rows of the remaining nine, who beat him with clubs until he died.
Since that time, running the gantlet has been adopted as punishment in versions either gentler or nastier by Germany, Russia, Sweden and numerous other countries. Some cultures used it as a light deterrent where the captive or criminal was absolved of wrongdoing after surviving a moderate whipping.
The British employed the gantlet run as corporal punishment in their military during the American Revolution and in their Royal Navy through the War of 1812.
Typically, an officer would lead, pace and point a sword at the accused as he made his way between the attacking columns. Another officer followed behind, similarly deterring an escape. Rawhides, tree limbs or ropes were used to whip the victim as he passed. Sometimes the ropes were unraveled into their nine main strands, and knotted several times at the ends, becoming the painful cat o’-nine-tails whip.
Though impossible to prove, it would seem that the Native Americans may have learned this form of persecution from the Europeans they encountered, and used it with various degrees of violence through the War of 1812. Such famous captives as Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton were subjected to it and survived during the late 1700s.
But one of the most famous incidents of its use by Indians was in the ruins of Fort Miamis, in Maumee, during a siege of Fort Meigs in 1813.
Here, several hundred U.S. troops were taken prisoner by the British and Indians. British General Henry Proctor turned a blind eye to the Indians’ torture of these prisoners, which included the running of a 60-foot-long gantlet lined by warriors armed with clubs, tomahawks, scalping knives and guns.
U.S. General Leslie Combs was one of the runners: “In doing this I was not touched, although the man ahead of me was shot down and fell across my way. I leapt over his body and went through double-quick. I was near Tecumseh when he made his speech … whereby hundreds of prisoners were saved — of whom I was one.”
Tecumseh arrived with the gantlet already in progress, and proved his character by halting the action with a ferocious rebuke of his men and Proctor.
Frank McQueary of Toledo is mighty grateful for Tecumseh’s integrity and timely arrival that day, as otherwise he wouldn’t have been born to tout the greatest adventure of his great-great-grandfather, John McQueary, who was one of those prisoners spared from running that deadly course.
Let’s hope that running the gantlet will never again mean running for your life, but only be a metaphor for getting through a series of difficulties, or the opportunity to snatch a kiss at your friend’s wedding. ✯
Frank Kuron is author of the War of 1812 book, “Thus Fell Tecumseh.” Email him at [email protected]
Tim Matheney, St. John's graduate, will become New Jersey State Director of Education Evaluation. Photo courtesy Tim Matheney.
Ever since starting kindergarten at 5 years old, Tim Matheney has always had a place inside a school building. But that’s about to change this summer.
In July, the 45-year-old Toledo native will leave his position as principal to nearly 3,000high school students to become the new director of educator evaluation for the State of New Jersey.
Matheney will lead a statewide initiative for the research and evaluation of teachers in the state. He said New Jersey is one of about a dozen states seriously looking at “educator evaluation reform.”
“We want to build a system of evaluation that accurately reflects how teachers contribute to the education process,” Matheney said. “We want to highlight those teachers who are doing great work and we want to identify those who are not as successful. We then want to identify ways to intervene with less successful teachers to provide better education.”
Matheney recently served on a state advisory committee on teacher evaluation. After a few months of planning the initiative, he was offered the job during the second semester.
Matheney called the new initiative “one of the most important education policies in the nation” and said he and his staff will work hard to assist every district in the state.
“This initiative has been moving forward for about a year and we completed a fi rst pilot year this year,” he said. “We had a number of systems implementing new systems of evaluation. A second year of pilots will begin during the 2012-13 year and we hope to learn more from those districts so we can implement a statewide system well into the 2013-14 school year.”
Matheney’s new staff will be in charge of supporting local school districts. He plans tospend 20 percent of his time in local schools with the first visit planned for July 2012, he said.
“I’m going to be involved in a visit to the Newark Public School System in July and I’m sure it’s the first of a number of local district visits over the summer and moreimportantly in the fall,” he said.
Education through practice
For the past eight years, the St. John’s Jesuit High School alumnus has been the principal of South Brunswick High School in Monmouth Junction, N.J.
In his time at the school, Matheney has strived to create “the most ideal environments for academic excellence” through positive reinforcement, extensive research and high standards, he said.
Matheney said he connects his philosophy of high-level academics coupled with high expectations to his days as both a student and a teacher at St. John’s.
“At South Brunswick, we hold highexpectations for ourselves and our students,” he said. “That’s connected to my experiences at St. John’s. I believe even though this is a very comprehensive public school, it is very possible to have high expectations for behavior as well as education.”
He also said his parents played a
large role in his personal and professional development.
“My father, Dean, was an employee of the Toledo Public Schools system for many years. My mother, Betty, was a reading aide in a Title I program where she worked to help students in
learning to read,” he said. “Clearly my parents stressed the value of education in my life. They were great role models in that they dedicated their careers to public service in education.”
High expectations
April Gonzalez, supervisor of English and social studies at South Brunswick, said Matheney’s high expectations motivate the students and administrators.“He has inspired us to be the best we can be and I say ‘us’ meaning his administrative team, teachers and students,” Gonzalez said. “He has highexpectations and I think that is a good thing. He definitely has a way of motivating us to think outside the box.”
Tose new ways of thinking have played major roles in the creation of many successful programs like the South Brunswick School Summit, a retreat where all teachers and administrators meet to discuss goals for the year to come, she said.
“Some really unique programs have been developed,” Gonzalez said. “One is called Project Success, a 12-week program from January to March where, at some point during the school day, we take students and they receive extra support for the high school proficiency assessment. It’s a 12-week intense study and practice session in taking the exam.”
Because of the program, students taking the language arts test had a 97 percent passing rate this past year, she said.
Awarding success
As principal of a large school, Matheney said it is very important to not only challenge the students academically, but to challenge them to be the best people they can be.
South Brunswick operates under five core values: honesty, kindness, respect, responsibility and service.
In 2011, South Brunswick received a National School of Character Award from the Character Education Partnership out of Washington, D.C.
“We work hard every day to provide a great education for students academically and through building character,” Matheney said. “Outside awards are nice but I care more about the end product of our work and I am very proud of our students. I think they’re well prepared for college and their work in the future.”
Full circle
Matheney graduated from Princeton University in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in history.
While many graduates from the prestigious school often pursue careers in equally prestigious fields like business, medicine or law, Matheney said he was proud to go against the grain.
“When you’re a student at Princeton there are expectations that you pursue a career in business administration or law or something like that,” he said. “To make the decision to become a teacher separates you from the majority ofother students who are pursuing more
traditional paths of a Princeton graduate. But I was OK with that.”
Matheney currently lives in the Princeton area.
Saying goodbye
Looking back on the past eight years at South Brunswick, Matheney said the one thing he will miss the most will be the relationships he has had with his students.
“Being a principal is full of great moments. Every year has 1,000 moments that are memorable,” he said. “One thing I take great pride in is you can take a walk through my building at any time and you see classroom doors open, teachers teaching and students learning. I’ve had visitors come in and say this feels like a school of 200 students. It is so quiet and so obvious that students are learning every day. I can point to certain awards, but the relationships between students and teachers are the most important things.”
A man with no connection to Toledo Free Press identified himself to a Holland mother as a photographer for the newspaper and asked her if he could take pictures of her children on June 18, 2012.
Kelly Devol, a mother of two, said a man knocked on her front door at about 4 p.m. and told her he was taking photographs for a ToledoFreePress article about children left home alone during the summer.
The man, who Devol said identified himself as “Tim O’Neil,” told her that he saw her children playing through a second story window and thought their NERF gun fight wouldmake a good picture to accompany the story.
The man looked to be in his 20s and had tattoos on his neck, arm, calf and fingers. His arm tattoo was a red and green dragon and his hand tattoo said “Live Free.” His T-shirt had an image of a gun on it, she said.
Devol asked for the man’s name and telephone number and told him her husband might call him back the next day.
“I’m never afraid in my neighborhood, so I wasn’t afraid at the time,” Devol said. “It was after the fact that I started thinking about it.”
The next morning she called a relative, who is a copy editor at ToledoFreePress. She also called Toledo CityPaper and TheBlade; everyone with whom she spoke said no employee with the stated name had ever worked at their newspapers.
Her husband called the man back. This time, he said he was a Blade photographer. Her husband then asked for a contact at The Blade to verify the man’s story. The man declined and said that the family didn’t seem interested so he wasn’t going to bother.
“My kids are a little freaked out,” Devol said.
On June 19, she called the Holland Police Department and an officer came out within five minutes, she said. But the police department does not have a report on file and Chief Robert Reed said he didn’t know if the responding officer was going to file one. The officer who responded to Devol’s call is out of town for training, he said.
Devol gave that officer the man’s phone number. Reed said he did not have the number on him as of press time.
Reed said the department has little information about the man because Devol didn’t callwhile he was at her doorstep.
“If you have something suspicious happen — call us right now,” Reed said. “I can’t tell you how many times people will call and say ‘Last week, something funny happened.’ I can’t do anything about it if it happened last week because the [suspect] is gone.”
Michael S. Miller, editor in chief of Toledo Free Press, said anyone who is approached by someone claiming to work for the newspaper should feel free to call (419) 241- 1700 to verify employment.
“All Toledo Free Press employees carry company IDs but it is easy to forge such identification,” Miller said.
“No ToledoFreePress employee will ever randomly knock on your door asking to take pictures of your children or family members. All feature story assignments are arranged in advance with full permission and cooperation of the sources.”
An early report on the Toledo FreePress Facebook page had mistakenly placed the incident in Perrysburg. ✯
Proposed change to county government organization, with a county council and executive concentrating power and contact with county residents.
A group trying to change the government structure in Lucas County has until June 29, 2012, to obtain the 13,500 valid signatures of registered voters needed to get their proposal on the November ballot. The group is proposing a county charter form of government, with “home rule” for Lucas County.
Five co-leaders have taken charge of the effort, which they have titled “Better Lucas County.” The effort is the product of many more citizens’ years of work, said one of the co-leaders, Robert Reinbolt, president and CEO of Reinbolt Consulting Group.
KeyBank, Fifth Third Bank, Mercy and ProMedica are some of the petition drive’s supporting organizations.
The University of Toledo provided major research and facilities support for a study that spurred the proposal.
Reinbolt said there was a “citizens for effective government concept” that pushed for county reform two or three years ago. Dr. Richard Ruppert, another of the fi ve co-leaders and former president of the University of Toledo, said when that effort stalled, the county suggested a study be conducted.
“Sometime in early 2010, a former County Commissioner (Ben Konop) suggested that Cuyahoga County and their form of government might be worth looking into,” County Commissioner Carol Contrada said. “An independent group was constituted.”
Advisory group Reinbolt and Ruppert were on the study committee that consisted of 35 members and met at least weekly for more than a year, Reinbolt said. There was also an advisory group that consisted of about 15-20 people, he said.
Contrada said Lucas County Commissioners Pete Gerken and Tina Skeldon Wozniak were briefed on the group’s findings in May 2011 and the study was released and published in June 2011. Reinbolt said the group met with all the cities’ and some township trustees, got their input and incorporated it into the charter that Neema Bell finalized. Bell is a co-leader and attorney and partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP.
“The advisory and study groups spent quite a bit of time leading up to where we finally got the report [and] recommendation, then it was decided earlier this year that we need to take it forward in terms of a petition drive,” Reinbolt said.
The other co-leaders are Scott Hamner, vice president-secretary and principal at Findley Davies, and Thomas Palmer, managing partner at Marshall & Melhorn, LLC. The co-leaders have been presenting and talking to different groups, Reinbolt said.
“All we’re saying is, here’s an idea that’s been through a lot of citizens and a lot of hours, and a lot of research [has been] done, so sign the petition, put it on the ballot, and let the voters decide,” Reinbolt said. “If we get enough signatures we’ll spend the summer making sure the voters know what it’s about.”
Ruppert said the reason for the proposed change isn’t that things in the county government aren’t going well, but that by adopting this charter, the government will improve.
The proposal
Currently, Lucas County citizens elect eight row officers — coroner, auditor, treasurer, prosecutor, engineer, recorder, clerk of courts and sheriff — and a three-member board of commissioners, along with the court of common pleas.
The group is proposing a county charter in which citizens would instead elect a county executive, a nine-member county council and the county prosecutor. Six of the nine council members would represent six different districts in the county, which the group has divided based on population, and the remaining three positions will be at-large spots, open to representatives from any district.
The county executive would appoint the chief fiscal officer, medical examiner, engineer and sheriff, with confirmation from the council. The council would appoint an internal auditor, who would work with the chief fiscal officer, a position that combines the roles of recorder and treasurer.
“Look at how we do private industry, or public. We have a board; even in the public setting we have a chief executive, the mayor, and there’s a council,” Ruppert said.
“That’s what we’re doing now. We’re suggesting that form of government,” Ruppert said.
In the study, the group looked at the two other counties in Ohio that have a similar, charter form of government — Cuyahoga and Summit counties.
Reinbolt said Delaware County has contacted him about pursuing a new form of government as well.
“In every case it looks like they were more efficient and more cost-effective and they began to focus on countywide, ‘What can we do, collectively, to improve our situation?’”
Ruppert said.
Summit County originally adopted a charter form of government in November 1979 but has acquired amendments and adoptions since then, according to ccao.org.
Cuyahoga County citizens voted for their charter in November 2009 and it was fully operating in the county as of Jan. 1, 2011, according to charter.cuyahogacounty.us.
Ruppert and Contrada said that Cuyahoga County adopted the charter because there was corruption within its county government.
Ruppert said on a per-capita basis, Summit County’s costs of publicfunding dollars are 20 percent lower than Lucas County’s. Ruppert said the group did not perform a study to discover why that was.
“The committee lacked the resources and time to perform an in-depth analysis of each office, department and agency to ascertain efficiencies that could be achieved by reorganization. These analyses can be left to other groups in the months ahead. However, the committee did draw high level comparisons between Lucas and Summit counties
because of their general similarity,” stated the report available at lucascountystudy.org in reference to cost comparisons between Lucas and Summit counties.
Economic development
Reinbolt said that the main purpose for the reform is not to save money, although he said he believes that will happen if this new structure is implemented.
“I can’t really say any cost analysis was done,” Reinbolt said. “It will probably save around $200,000- $300,000 a year but it could very well save more as we consolidate positions. It’s not intended to be driven by saving money, as the main purpose is not to save money. The main purpose is to have a more responsive government.”
Bell said with the charter, there is “every likelihood of economic development countywide.” Bell said it’s an opportunity for job development and a way to keep talented youth in the Toledo area.
“As we have it now, we have row offices; we’ve got all elected officials, none of whom are responsible to anyone other than to the citizens. It doesn’t channel up. With this new form of government, there would be one go-to person with whom the buck stops, which makes it easier to coordinate efforts throughout the county with the various branches. It makes it more efficient for businesses who want to come do business with the county,” Bell said.
Contrada said the report acknowledged that from 2008-11, the county cut more than $20 million its budget.
“Then [the report] says the ‘committee is not aware of commensurate decline of services,’” Contrada said. “They are making the case that the county has been able to institute efficiencies without the reform.”
Contrada said the group had one good recommendation that the county is already looking into, and that is the internal auditor position.
“You have a lot of different offices that deal with budget and fi scal matters. By having an internal auditor, it makes sure there is a standard, transparent, consistent methodology in use. It helps effi ciency from one department to another,” Contrada said.
Skepticism
Sylvania City Councilman Doug Haynam said he is “very skeptical about the proposal,” which was presented to him in November. Haynam said he thinks the proposed structure will cripple political diversity and fair representation.
“One concern I have is the extreme centralization of power within a single executive,” Haynam said. “He is more likely to appoint friends and political buddies instead of qualified people. The executive would be more likely to appoint someone who has contributed to his campaign and would use the positions as political patronage. Trusting in the good faith of a single executive — most people with government experience understand that that would not be a reasonable place to put trust.”
Haynam said he is also wary about the home-rule aspect of the charter and the supposed cost-effectiveness of the change.
Reinbolt said townships, villages or cities that have home-rule capabilities now will not be superseded by the new governmental structure.
“The home-rule is a provision of state law that allows you to establish a law or rule that would supersede something the state or county has in place,” Reinbolt said. “Right now, the county has to go by the charter established for all counties in Ohio. With this [new charter], we could put different laws into place, once approved by the council and a referendum by voters.”
Haynam said the proposal is “change for change’s sake.”
“I don’t have anything to lose or gain [from this],” Haynam said. “It just really isn’t a good idea. The fact that they did it in Cleveland doesn’t mean it’s a good idea here. In Lucas County, we have a well-functioning county government. What we have going here works pretty well.”
Kevin Haddad, Sylvania Township Trustee and President of the Lucas County Township Association, said he wants change in the county government system, but not by way of the proposed structure.
When he ran for county commissioner in 1996, Haddad said, he and a township trustee created a plan to change the three-member board to a five-member one.
Haddad said he thinks that the three at-large spots of the proposed plan will most likely go to Toledo city representatives, unfairly excluding the other county districts.
“I’m not happy with the three board member [structure] right now, but if we’re going to change the county government, let’s look at something to be fair. With a nine-member board, it’s going to be Toledo City Council running it,” Haddad said.
Every four years, Ohio plays an integral role in each presidential candidate’s strategy, especially in terms of television ad time.
This year will be no different. To date, voters have seen more than $162 million worth of ads. The bulk of the money has been spent in battleground states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida and Ohio.
According to The Washington Post, Toledo has seen $1.5 million worth of ads to date from
both candidates. While smaller in comparison to other parts of the state, this amount is still enough to leave a lasting impression in a voter’s mind.
One ad that has been recently played from the Barack Obama campaign targets Mitt Romney’s governorship of Massachusetts. Paid for by Obama for America, the ad depicts Mitt Romney as a job killer and a debt creator. Th e campaign claims that “Romney economics” didn’t work when he was governor and they won’t work if he is president.
The ad states that under Romney, Massachusetts had the highest amount of public debt per person than any other state. This is a true statement. According to Moody’s Investor Services, during Romney’s last year in office, Massachusetts had the highest per capita debt in the country with $4,153 per citizen. Connecticut came in a distant second.
Cumulatively during Romney’s four years, the rankings stayed the same. Even though Romney slowed the rate of debt growth from 5.8 to 1.9 percent, this ultimately means that the claim made by team Obama is true.
However, the claim is also somewhat misleading. First, there is a distinct difference between state and national debt.
Many states are like Massachusetts, which by law must balance its budget. This means that the operating budget for the state, which covers public employees’ payroll and government services, must be fully paid for by taxes and fees each year.
Romney did not increase taxes during his tenure, but did increase fees. Money for capital improvement projects like road and school improvements are typically not covered in the budget and are paid for by borrowing money. In Massachusetts, regional capital projects are often paid for by the state, due to the lack of regional government taxing authority.
This increased the debt even more.
State debt is different from the national debt because, unlike state governments, the federal government is not required to have sufficient funds to cover discretionary and mandatory spending. It is able to print money to pay for services it doesn’t have the money for, unlike states. So the idea that based on Romney’s state debt record, he would increase the debt to pay for discretionary and mandatory spending is severely flawed.
Second, Massachusetts had a trackrecord of operating in debt that started before Romney took office. In the two years prior to his governorship, Massachusetts ranked first and second in debt per capita. In fact, it has been in the top five ranking for almost five
decades.
However, while the state may be notorious for racking up large amounts of debt, it is also well known for paying it off . Under Romney, the state operated with a AA credit rating, recently being upgraded to AA+. Any money borrowed by the state was most likely paid off.
The ad also states that during Romney’s tenure, Massachusetts at one time ranked 47th in job creation. This is true, but ignores the improvements Romney made during his time. When Romney took office in 2003, Massachusetts was at the bottom of the list at 50th, in terms of job creation. When he left office in 2007, the state jumped to 28th on
the list.
Romney even improved the state’s unemployment rate from the 5.6 percent rate he inherited to 4.7 percent when he left office. Though the jobless rate and unemployment numbers were still above the national average when Romney left the governorship, it is clear that conditions did improve under his leadership.
Instead of doing a year-by-year analysis of Massachusetts’ job creation rankings, the Obama campaign decided to use the much worse average. Additionally, the campaign also used the most misleading measure of state debt to paint the worst picture of candidate Romney.
The Obama campaign continues to blame Romney for problems that he inherited when he was governor, while ignoring the successes of his tenure. ✯
Ben Osburn is a graduate student in political science at the University of Toledo.
Since December 2006, Rainbow Valley has been a family oasis and tradition.
Nestled in the Sears court at Aventura Mall in South Florida, Rainbow Valley is about the size of a suburban backyard. It looks like an anime dream of a marshmallow world; every hill and slide and cave is made of soft, yielding foam.
Babies crawl, toddlers toddle and shoeless kids run and jump on the bright green and blue surfaces while parents sit or play along and an attendant guards the only exit.
White clouds with smiling faces are suspended from the ceiling, overlooking the play area like benevolent sentinels.
Our twice-yearly visits to Aventura to visit family almost always include a walk through the seemingly endless Aventura Mall, which during the holidays features a wonderland of Christmas trains, trees and a Santa Claus who remembers our sons every year and adds to the season’s magic.
Evan, who is now 6, and Sean, who is now 4, celebrate their mid-June birthdays within a few days of each other; Sean was born on the same date as my brother Mark, my onlysibling. So June visits to Aventura, just south of Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, revolve around birthday parties and the inevitable spoiling that loving uncles like Mark and Jack orchestrate.
The boys love walking through the air-conditioned Aventura Mall, with its gigantic Disney Store, a LEGO store with open workbenches and piles of LEGOs and the whirring escalators.
Rainbow Valley, not coincidentally, is located next to an It’Sugar store that boasts enough candy and sweets to give Willy Wonka a toothache.
One of our rituals at the mall is to visit Rainbow Valley, where everyone takes off their shoes, places them in a cubicle and then runs and plays, ideally helping the kids expend energy but in reality draining the adults while the kids grow exponentially stronger. Th ey slide, climb into the mountain fort to look through the periscope, slide down hills and chase each other in circles, laughing and laughing until someone falls or climbs too high.
Our annual file of photographs from Aventura includes six years of Evan and Sean at Rainbow Valley, chronicling their growth against the unmoving background of the plastic hills and slides.
During our visit the week of June 11, we visited the malland let the boys play with LEGOs and marvel at the Disney Store (which, due to its corporate parent’s continuing efforts to own every brand of entertainment, features Snow White and Buzz Lightyear next to the Iron Man, Miss Piggy and Perry the Platypus) before finding our way to Rainbow Valley.
We were with our family friend Julie and her little boy, Ben, another Rainbow Valley veteran. We approached the playground and watched the three boys take off their shoes and scurry to the entrance gate. Ben and Sean were inside, running and exploring within seconds. But the attendant stopped Evan and motioned for me to come over.
“He’s too tall to come in,” she said, with the air of someone who has delivered this particular piece of bad news before and is ready for the protest. She guided Evan to the fixed ruler on the gate, which, like the doomed One Ring of Mordor, was inscribed with a message: “Children who are taller than 42 inches may not use the play area.”
I do not know how she sized Evan up so quickly, but I was confident she was wrong.
We had just been here in November and he sailed through. There was no way Evan was now 3-and-a-half-feet tall.
But when he stood against the ruler, the top of Evan’s head was a clear two inches above the cutoff line.
“I’m sorry, Evan,” I said, and walked him back to his shoes. I was as confused and thrown off as he was, but while I was fighting what my eyes had seen, Evan showed excitement.
“Hey, I’m too big for the playground,” he said, with a mixture of pride and wonder.
“Looks like it,” I said, proud of his reaction to being denied a treat he had enjoyed twice a year for his entire life.
“Hey, I’m too big for the playground,” he repeated, and this time I could hear the understanding and disappointment I was already mired in.
We walked around and watched the other kids play for a while, then left them in their mothers’ care and walked back to the LEGO store for a half-hour.
There are days when it feels like I just brought my sons home from the hospital, but those moments are fading as traditions like Rainbow Valley are felled by the arrows of growth and maturation.
As we played with LEGOs, Evan and I had a conversation about his just-completed year of kindergarten. He was confident he knew everything he needed to know and figured he wouldn’t need to spend any time this summer preparing for first grade.
“You think you know it all, huh?” I asked him.
“Yep,” Evan replied. “Ask me something.”
“OK, professor,” I said. “What’s the meaning of life?”
Evan looked at me like I had asked him for an elementary answer, like his name.
“Family,” he said.
I smiled and nodded.
My 6-year-old son thus proved himself not only too grown for Rainbow Valley, but, on this one question, wise enough to silence his father.
Two local media mainstays, Toledo Mayor Mike Bell and Columbia Gas of Ohio, have been the subject of conversation this week. They always are, but there are interesting public relations elements to discuss.
A few photos of Bell have been posted on Facebook and local message boards such as Toledo Talk. The photos show the mayor hanging out at the new Ye Olde Cock n’ Bull Tavern, wearing his motorcycle leathers and torn jeans. He is shown on stage with a band, posing with women at the bar and just generally enjoying himself.
Good for him.
It appears the photos were posted to embarrass Bell by raising questions about his behavior. It is of interest that these photos almost always draw comments about the race of the people Bell is with; whether those comments are in jest or come from a less admirable mindset can only be known by the people posting them.
During his run for office, Bell promised he was going to remain true to himself and he has. He has taken controversial stances, made statements with bulldog determination and run the city as he said he would.
If he parties on his own time and it helps him deal with stress and stay in touch with who he is and what he loves about Toledo, that’s healthy.
Bell has made mistakes, and his increasing distance from some City Council members is a concern, but none of his perceived missteps have to do with him blowing off steam on his motorcycle and enjoying some rock star action.
There are lines of behavior and responsibility on the party scene, and there have been no indications that Bell has crossed them.
Rock on, Mike.
Residents at GrayStone Woods have been rocked by the discovery of methane gas seeping around their homes. Columbia Gas of Ohio determined the levels were a danger and cut off service to the subdivision. This has understandably caused distress to the homeowners, who have been without a major utility service for three weeks. No gas means no hot showers and meals cooked in microwaves, with no immediate endgame in sight.
The situation is undoubtedly a major inconvenience for the homeowners, a scary proposition for developer Seneca Building Co., a jurisdiction puzzle for government and a public relations issue for Columbia Gas.
The utility company is doing the right thing. Columbia’s zero-tolerance policy is a safety-first call (one that does not help its bottom line, by the way) and one residents should respect, even if they can’t appreciate it.
Residents in GrayStone Woods have a right to voice their unhappiness, but they would have much bigger worries if Columbia Gas had rushed to restore service and one or more homes or lives had been lost.
We certainly hope the parties involved can find a quick and permanent solution to the problem. But in the meantime, Columbia Gas and Mayor Bell find themselves in a similar situation; being criticized for taking care of their business — and their lives — with unwavering dedication to what they believe is right.
Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star.
Kaitlyn's Cottage in Defiance. Toledo Free Press photo by Joseph Herr
DEFIANCE — Step inside Kaitlyn’s Cottage behind ProMedica’s Defiance campus and the high ceilings, granite countertops and rich wooden floors will wow you.
That is, if the front deck that winds around the wood and stone exterior of the building hasn’t already.
But here, tucked away from the hospital hustle and perched at the edge of a dark and tall forest, what truly matters is the space to roam those wooden floors and the messes that will soon pile up on those countertops.
Kaitlyn’s Cottage opens June 26 to serve as a respite center for 16-to-40 year olds who have intellectual and physical disabilities. Guests can visit for a few hours or stay overnight in one of the four bedrooms. Staff will work with guests on a one-on-one basis, offering two frequently changing scheduled activities daily, said Marsha Kott, the program manager.
The building cost $1.9 million, an amount partially subsidized by ProMedica Defiance Regional Hospital, funded by donors and mostly fueled by Sharon and Dan Farrell, a Defiance couple who has an 18-year-old granddaughter with a disability. Her name is Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn Shock
The two also started an endowment fund, which has accumulated $1.5 million, to help families afford to send their relatives to Kaitlyn’s Cottage.
“This is an idea that I thought about years ago and it was because of our Kaitlyn, seeing a need for a place like this,” Sharon Farrell said. “When young people like Kaitlyn come out of school, there’s nothing left, there’s no place … nothing for them to do … there are no options.”
Filling the gap
Parents of children with disabilities often struggle to fill the gap during the period following high school graduation. They are faced with finding a new social outlet for their kids or new programs to challenge them, said Frances Diehl, director of respite services for those with disabilities at Kaitlyn’s Cottage.
She said her little brother had a disability and her family saw him regress as her parents searched for a new outlet for him once he graduated.
Kott said the chance to socialize becomes strained after graduation.
“As they exit the school setting, if they don’t have the option to go onto other workshop settings and things like that, they’re limited to as to their friendships and the people they can be with,” she said.
Parents also suddenly have less time for themselves — not that they had much before — and couples often struggle to find time for a simple dinner date. Farrell said Kaitlyn’s Cottage gives parents the opportunity for their own respite.
But it’s difficult for parents to feel comfortable leaving their offspring with strangers, sometimes even at respite centers, said Cris Shock, Kaitlyn’s mother. She, her spouse Josh and her three daughters are a unit, and they all know how to communicate with Kaitlyn, she said, whereas strangers might not.
Kaitlyn has Rett syndrome, a nervous system disorder that leads to development reversals particularly in language and hand usage. The disorder almost exclusively affects girls. Kaitlyn does not talk, has never walked and has limited function in her hands, but Shock said she always knows what Kaitlyn is thinking because of her expressive eyes.
The staff at Kaitlyn’s Cottage learned communication styles firsthand through more than 40 hours of training. Kott said she assigned each trainee a particular disability to prompt the individual to problem solve just like their future guests. Kott gave the group sparse help, pushing them to decipher which communication cues would work to get the attention of their caretakers. For example, Kott left one “non-ambulatory” and “non-verbal” trainee in the kitchen alone so she had to figure out how to alert Kott that she was left behind.
After the exercises, the group discussed how it felt to be excluded. The idea is that once the employees know how they communicated thoughts when saddled with a disability, they would be able to pick up on those same cues from their guests.
Freedom of choice
Communication enables one of the most important aspects of Kaitlyn’s Cottage: choices.
“I’ve had students who were growing up in an environment where they’re afraid to say no and the first time my one guy said ‘No,’ I was thrilled,” Kott said. “It’s that freedom of choice — making a purposeful, functional concrete decision.”
Scheduled activities for a day might include making pottery, baking cakes, making crafts, playing music or engaging in games. For guests who have limited control of their hands, the staff can use objects that are activated when the guest pushes a button, such as a pair of electric scissors that the employee holds but depends upon the guest to power them.
But Kott said staff will ask guests if they want to partake in the activities or do something else. If someone needs quiet time, a reflection room flanks the living area for some solitude. The guests who cannot communicate with words will use cards with icons. The trained staff can notice which icon the guest prefers based on the guest’s eye contact, Kott said.
Kaitlyn just graduated with her class from Defiance High School; she will continue attending school until she is 22-years-old. After that? Shock said she feels comforted knowing that Kaitlyn’s Cottage will be waiting.
