St. Matthew’s Day School to add Special Education class in the fall

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St. Matthew’s Day School will be adding a Special Education class this fall.

The class will start on Sept. 6 and will only be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a max of five students.

Bennett Furgason will be starting the class after recently joining St. Matthew’s.

“It will be for three to five-year-olds who have disabilities and need special education resources,” Furgason said. “It’s just to get our bearings and see how everything goes. Kids will have the opportunity to be with peers of their age for recess, music, chapel, etc.”

Furgason, a graduate of West Texas A&M University, was a special education teacher at Pampa Junior High for three years prior to joining St. Matthew’s and is certified for special education.

“I think it will be a good opportunity for the parents who need just a little bit of a break or want to put their kids in a system where they get basic,” Furgason said.

“It’s hard to say exactly what we will do because special education classrooms can be trial-and-error until you figure out each kid. We will use a curriculum and they will have an ISP (Individualized Service Plan) to keep up with their goals and objectives. That ISP will transfer to wherever they go after St. Matt’s.”

St. Matthew’s will not be able to accept medically fragile or emotionally disturbed students, but can accept intellectually disabled (ID) students.

“We can take ID kids, autistic kids, maybe some other health-impaired kids,” Furgason said. “There are about 13 disabilities under the ID umbrella. It’ll be more geared toward ID kids and autistic kids. It’ll be case-by-case.”

Applications are being accepted and tuition will be based on individual cases.

“I really want to emphasize we are working with grants and donations specifically for the program,” St. Matthew’s director Kelly Cambern said. “We want it to be case-by-case, not a flat rate. We want it to be income-based.”

For more information on the program, call St. Matthew’s Day School at 806-665-0703.