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Holmes Training Center eyes August reopening

The Daily Record - 7/22/2020

MILLERSBURG — Marianne Mader, the Holmes County Training Center, Board of Developmental Disabilities superintendent, spoke with commissioners on Monday about tentatively reopening the school on Aug. 24 (pending board approval), for the 2020-21 school year.

The school and adult program both have been closed since March. They have been providing early intervention services, though not from in the home.

“While we can’t go into people’s homes, we have been providing services over the telephone, through Zoom and other virtual platforms, and just recently, we’ve started doing porch visits, where we visit outdoors,” Mader said. “The early intervention is continuing and going strong. We are also providing service and support administration, which is case management. Through this whole crisis, our staff has been in contact with families, checking on them, seeing if there are things they need.”

While many of the people under the Training Center’s care live with family members, there are a number of people who live in the community and have people who come into their homes to make sure they are healthy and safe.

The Board of Developmental Disabilities (DD) pays for those supports, and with the programs closed, those clients have a six- to seven-hour chunk of time where they do not have staff in their homes. The Board of DD provides funding for that to continue, along with providing PPE for the staff to make sure they are healthy and safe.

“Moving forward, we are thinking about school reopening,” Mader said. “One thing we know, when we closed in March, remote learning doesn’t work with our students, nor does sending a stack of papers home.

“With our returning principal, Rhoda Mast, we are putting a plan together,” she continued. “It is looking like we’re going to go five days a week, with lots of precautions for our staff. Many of our students, even if they wanted to wear a facial covering, they can’t. Because our classes are small, we’re able to spread out.”

She noted that most of the work they do is up close.

“You can’t feed somebody unless you’re close to them,” Mader said. “You can’t help a student operate a piece of equipment unless your hands are touching their hands. We have some unique challenges that other schools don’t have. We know in our heart of hearts, what is best for our students is to be with us during the day to get the most out of our services.”

Regarding adults, Lynn Hope Industries is bringing them back slowly, about 20 people to start. The tentative starting date is Aug. 3.

“One of the few things that remain closed by the governor is adult service centers for people with developmental disabilities,” she said. “While we can’t bring everybody back, there are some guidelines that allow us to bring back small groups that can’t interact with each other. There are so many regulations that make it really hard to work, but we’re committed to making it work, and bringing folks back starting in August.”

Mader said they wanted to bring people back a few months ago, but the county saw a spike in coronavirus cases, and after consulting with the health commissioner, decided it would be best to wait.

“It’s been a rough time for a lot of our families that count on us for those six, or seven hours a day, and we feel terrible that we weren’t able to provide that service,” Mader said. “But we’re committed to get back at it, and doing everything we can to make sure that the individuals and our staff are safe.”

She added that it probably will be a series of starts and stops, but they plan to move ahead.

Mader said the Board of DD will be placing a 10-year, 1.8 renewal levy on the ballot in November. This will be the third time this renewal has been up for election.

“I know a lot of voters are thinking, ‘wait a minute, we just voted for them.’ That was a five-year renewal,” she said. “We’ve got a five-year and 10-year renewal on the books, so every now and then we have back-to-back years. This was originally passed in 2001.”

The commissioners commended the job the people at the Board of DD do, and offered their assistance as they move forward.

CREDIT: KEVIN LYNCH

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