On the blog

The end of the school year brings much to celebrate. Last week we held our Eighth Grade Moving On Ceremony, where we celebrated the accomplishments of our amazing eighth graders as they prepare to take the important next step in their academic journeys into high school. Two weeks before that, we gathered to celebrate our Senior class at their Commencement Ceremony. This graduation featured three student speakers, and we conferred three special awards to members of our graduating class. But there has been much more.

For many years, I have said that coming to work every day for a place where I wholeheartedly believe in the mission is a tremendous luxury that I do not take for granted. Many of my colleagues likewise refer to themselves as “mission driven” when they talk about why they work in our school for students with learning disabilities. This has especially been on my mind over the past few months as we have been examining our mission statement to ensure it accurately reflects the school we are.

As a school leader, I find myself drawn to leadership books from the corporate world. I find their appeal mildly surprising. While often written for a wide audience, these books are about industries and companies that usually have nothing to do with education. Those leaders' jobs are different from mine.

What does success look like if you are a student with a learning disability? A high school diploma? Graduating from a 2- or 4-year college? Joining the workforce and holding down a job? Or is it the ability to live independently? Or, perhaps, to live in a community with support services? 

As I come to the end of my third year at Learning Prep, I find myself incredibly grateful for the community around me and extraordinarily excited for our future. My first year was in 2020. It was marked by Covid cohorts and terrible uncertainty, and yet our teaching teams came together – both through zoom and in person – and kept the school open during a year like no other. Our students demonstrated remarkable tenacity and courage. Throughout that entire year, our community came together with support and kindness even on our hardest days. 

One day you may find yourself looking for a new school for your child. If your child struggles in a traditional school setting or already has been diagnosed with a learning disability, you may find yourself exploring special education schools. It’s a daunting task, families often finding out they don’t know what they don’t know yet, but one question I often get is, “How do you decide to accept a student?” Many families reading this are now part of the LPS community and have now gone through this process, and likely have some understanding. Other families reading this might be in the midst of applying to schools wondering where they should apply, how to know if it’s a good fit, and wondering how the school knows they can support their child. Averaging around 125 applications a year, we have molded a system that gets to this. I want to “pull back the curtain” and share exactly how we get to that very question - how decisions are made including who is involved, what we evaluate, and what steps we take to provide due diligence before sending that acceptance letter.

Digital responsibility is the ability to use digital technology in a way that is safe and responsible and to engage in these activities in a respectful way. At LPS, our technology and design guru, Luis Gaitan, teaches our students digital responsibility and safety as a major part of his curriculum. Students also learn about social media responsibility and safety during health classes as well as from their counselors. But families can help at home, too.

Here are some technology best practices that you can share with your children/teenagers...

As we are entering the second month of the new year, it is important to reflect upon the values here at LPS. We thrive on providing students with the skills necessary to succeed beyond our school doors. These skills are highlighted in our “Senior Toolbox,” which encompasses our vision of self-determination.  During senior year, students are working on various strategies with their Speech/Language Pathologists, Occupational Therapists, Counselors, and the Transition Department to build their self-awareness and self-advocacy skills. Tools that are created for their “Senior Toolbox” may include Thinking Maps about their accommodations or learning style, an "elevator script" about their disability, and templates for emails to send to professors in college when needing assistance. This “Toolbox” also includes other resources, like information about the ADA law, their resume, sample cover letters and job applications, a copy of their IEP, pdfs of PLEP A/B from their IEP, and a Summary of Student Performance.  The “Senior Toolbox” is shared with the student's personal email address so they will have access to it after high school. We believe an integral step to self-advocacy is student recognition of their learning disability and its accompanying accommodations.

Hello Learning Prep Community - for those who have not yet met me, I’m Pat Pingeton. Since September, I’ve been filling in for Korina Martin, our stellar Director of Admissions, who recently welcomed a new child to her family in September. I arrived at Learning Prep after seven years of teaching English in a trauma-informed alternative high school in Amesbury. Last year, I completed a full-time Master’s program at Harvard University in Educational Leadership, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship. As this is my last week in this role, I have found myself reflecting on what I will take away from this experience.