Letter to the Editor:
This is in response to the article in the Tuesday paper concerning the Age to Age program. The decision to quit the program is very disappointing to Windsor Place and our community.
I want to offer a couple of clarifications.
1. Windsor Place is a Skilled Nursing home, not an Assisted Living facility. We are the only nursing home in lola.
2. The administrator at Windsor Place did not agree with moving the Age to Age program.
Windsor reached out to school board members after being informed by a person in the community that moving the preschool was discussed in a school board meeting. We were not informed by the school administration of this discussion.
We believe it is a disadvantage to the children, the residents, and our community to end the program. It was very rare to have the partnership between a nursing home and a school, and we believe this was a progressive program for Iola. An educator from London came to study the program to replicate it in Europe. Legislators have come to observe the program. We have even presented the program to the State Board of Education in Topeka.
Dr. Neuenswander and Dr. Pekarek, both former superintendents, were very involved in the Age to Age program, and they immediately saw the benefits it produces. The last couple of administrators were not involved and did not experience these benefits.
Yes, Windsor will have children in the facility. It is too important for us not to. However, it is sad that the school district will not reap these benefits. We were here to enlighten children early in learning about disabilities and differences among people. We were here to give love and acceptance to all children. We were here to see the children drawn to our people who were the most disabled and to accept them. The children who graduated from this program are definitely better equipped to handle life than those who did not have this opportunity.
We were surprised with the amount of community support we experienced with getting this program started. Thank you to the Rotary Club, CITF and the many supporters of this program, which included the school board members and superintendent of 2010.
We have had residents, resident family members, and parents of former students express their disappointment concerning this decision. It would have been nice for the community to have had a chance to voice their opinions prior to the vote. So yes, we do feel this is a huge loss to our community.
Sincerely,
Linda Milholland
Administrator
Windsor Place
