Delaware PE teacher builds a class where all students can play: Education roundup

One physical education educator at John G. Leach School is at it again with adaptive devices that allow more of his students to take part in activities. And this time, Frank Hughes took on bocce.

Over in Odessa, the high school marching band is set to receive a coveted invite to London's New Year’s Day Parade in 2025. In this weekly roundup, we'll catch you up on these and more education updates you may have missed.

[Did we miss another good education story? Tell me about it: kepowers@gannett.com.]

Odessa High School band to receive historic London invitation

Odessa's band and some fellow musicians are headed to The Big Smoke.

The world-renowned London New Year’s Day Parade is inviting the Odessa High School Marching Band to participate in the parade and festival on Jan. 1, 2025. The formal invitation — to be given by Founder and Chair Bob Bone and Ambassador Duncan Sandys — will be delivered to talented students at a school event Thursday.

These students will get a "life-changing" week in the United Kingdom, according to Appoquinimink schools, performing in the parade, visiting museums, historic sites and more.

Organizers expect the biggest parade in the event's five-decade history. The parade already sees more than 8,000 performers, entertaining a street audience of around 500,000 — and a global TV audience in the tens of millions.

The invitation presentation will start at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 2, in the high school's Performing Arts Center Lobby.

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Leach teacher at it again with inclusive creations bigger than gym class

Frank Hughes is known to tinker.

Coming to John G. Leach School to teach PE to children living with severe physical and cognitive disabilities nearly six years ago, he knew he'd have to get creative. Not all of his students would have the same abilities to pass, push or play.

Even at Colonial School District's annual Special Olympics DE Bocce Tournament, not every child has been able take part. Until this year.

"I design, I build, I modify everything up here," Hughes said, leading the way through PVC-pipe contraptions. "So everything is my creation. Then, I see what the student needs, and I build on it."

Hughes has built over 40 types of contraptions for his students — seeing them play baseball, soccer, basketball, shuffleboard and much more. Most recently, after three years of working on a prototype, he unveiled his "all-inclusive bocce ramp."

"There's a lot of expensive bowling and bocce ramps that only allow you to have a ball, put it on, and push it down," he said, eyes trailing down his model looking a bit more complicated. "That only affects a certain percentage of our population."

Meet Frank: Teacher's creative contraptions open a new world for his students

Hughes has kids who can't push but can pull, kids who push but couldn't pull, alongside kids who cannot do either but could easily turn a switch. Hughes began developing an idea alongside engineering students at a few local high schools.

The ramps are made out of PVC pipes, the foot of a TV stand for a push lever and a battery-operated button, all sending a ball to target. It's just one device added to his arsenal, but a meaningful one. Push, pull, press — on Friday, Oct. 20, they were used for the first time.

"Now, all of my students in this room with a visual impairment, in this room with a sensory, in this room with a body that's fused, in this room that has behavioral — everyone can use one ramp," said the educator in New Castle.

Hughes says his district has taken him seriously on his tinkering. He can expect to see a new workshop soon, where he can store and continue to engineer new adaptive devices. Next he's building and hosting a Fall Sensory Maze at Leach from Tuesday, Oct. 31 to Wednesday, Nov. 1.

"It's been more fun because we're getting so much more inclusion. And that's like the whole point, right? I really love this job."

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Business partners with regional schools on Halloween art contest

Each school receives the same car cover to use as a canvas — but EmpireCovers expects a different "petrifying portrait" from each school across Wilmington and Philadelphia.

The EmpireCovers Halloween Contest saw about nine submissions of spooky designs this year, and voting on the winner will close after Tuesday, Oct. 31. Delaware's only school is falling behind.

Red Clay's Cab Calloway School of the Arts is the only school from The First State in the running. Other participants hail from Pennsylvania — Perkiomen Valley Middle School East, Andrew Hamilton School, Thomas Holme School, Fanny Jackson Coppin School, Joseph W. Catharine School, Kulp Elementary, Fitler Academics Plus and Upper Moreland High School.

With more than 5,200 votes, Thomas Holme School dominates as of Friday morning. Cab Calloway's eerie alien ride only has just over 400 votes, so far.

From charter school to Paris: This Delaware educator is the only American finalist for $1 million Global Teacher Prize

A grand prize of $2,500 will be awarded to the car cover creation earning the most votes. That prize will be presented to the art teacher to be used how they see fit for their classroom, organizers said, while covers with the second and third most votes will earn $1000 and $500, respectively.

Got a story? Kelly Powers covers race, culture and equity for Delaware Online and USA TODAY Network Northeast, with a focus on education. Contact her at kepowers@gannett.com or (231) 622-2191, and follow her on Twitter @kpowers01.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: PE teacher keeps creating inclusive devices for kids with disabilities