Rockland BOCES creates 'Safety City' to help students with disabilities navigate streets
WEST NYACK — A little downtown of sorts has sprung up on a back lot of Rockland BOCES' main campus. There's a looped roadway with crosswalks and traffic lights. The facades of a burger joint, a post office and transit depot line the site. There's even a clocktower.
Welcome to Safety City.
Along with a new model residence nearby, Safety City is designed to give students with disabilities a chance to polish their independent living skills before they age out of educational services and launch into the world of adult support services.
"Our children who are more independent have more opportunities," said Rockland BOCES COO Amy Albers, who has shepherded the new facilities and created programming to match.
But the educational opportunities for Safety City go further: The bulk of the carpentry was done by students in BOCES' Career and Technical Education Program.
First 'Safety City' in region
Safety City helps students with disabilities practice crossing a street, getting on a bus.
While the project is more about navigating a streetscape, the burger joint will include shelving so students can practice picking up their bagged lunch, similar to grabbing a to-go order.
It's the first such facility in the Hudson Valley and one of fewer than 30 nationwide.
It could serve several hundred Rockland BOCES students.
Meet Maybie: Fieldstone Middle School's facility dog helps students and staff alike
Learning home skills
The nearby Student House, an 1,850-square-foot model residence that has a fully operational kitchen and all other home amenities, helps students prepare for independent living. The house is designed to accommodate people who use wheelchairs.
There are two bathrooms, a bedroom, a washer-dryer setup. Students can practice basic cooking, cleaning and personal hygiene skills.
Hands-on building
The construction of Safety City became an educational experience in itself.
First-year building services and carpentry students in BOCES' Career and Technical Education Program have been working on it all school year. CTEC students spend half the day at BOCES and half in their home district during the two-year course.
The students' primary duties have been carpentry and landscaping. Electrical and paving work was done over the summer by professionals.
Just like on a professional job site, CTEC instructor Frank DeToma said, "they operate in a safe and sound manner."
'We've learned everything'
Logan Spence of Suffern High School and Dylan McKinnon of Westwood Regional High School in Washington Township, New Jersey, were working on finishing touches last week. The 16-year-old juniors are both in the first year of CTEC's carpentry program.
"Since the beginning of the year, we've been running like the wind," McKinnon said during a quick morning break.
Spence nodded. "We've learned everything," he said. "It's been a good experience."
Ready to use
Safety City and Student House officially open at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Rockland BOCES campus. They will immediately go into service for student use, Albers said.
Funding came through state and legislative grants. Skills USA/Lowes Home Improvement Center in Nanuet donated $14,800 worth of appliances for Student House.
Nancy Cutler writes about People & Policy for lohud.com and the USA Today Network New York. Reach her at ncutler@lohud.com; follow her at @nancyrockland on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Threads.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY school creates 'Safety City' to help students with disabilities
