Special education wing completed at Whittier Elementary School

Granite School District has laid the foundation for more special education opportunities for students with the construction of a new wing at Whittier Elementary School.

On Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, the community was invited to attend an open house to tour the new special education facility at the school during parent-teacher conferences.

Whittier Elementary School Principal Shauna Casaday said the open house was held to encourage families to learn more about the new wing of the school and the services being offered.

“We had a lot of families walking through the wing,” Casaday said. “It was a big way to open up the wing for parents and students.”

The new special education wing at Whittier Elementary will increase the size of the school by more than 30 percent and provide classrooms for students with significant medical disabilities.

More than 700 students attend Whittier Elementary. Of those, about 55 students have disabilities that make it necessary for them to attend classes in the new wing.

All of the facilities in the special education wing are designed to accommodate the special needs of students attending the school, including rooms on site for physical and occupational therapist services, six new classrooms, a nursing center and bathrooms designed to provide better access for children in wheelchairs.

The wing also provides space for a new preschool program at the school.

As part of the open house introduction to the new special education facility, an assembly was held for the entire student body to introduce some of the students with disabilities, who told jokes and sang songs.

Casaday said the assembly was a fun way to integrate the new students with their peers at the school.

All Whittier students will share the cafeteria and playground areas during the school day.

The new Whittier Elementary special education wing has been open since the beginning of the school year and was paid for with funding generated through property taxes collected by Granite School District.

The wing is one of a number of facilities within the school district designed to serve students with significant physical and mental disabilities.

Granite School District Communications Director Ben Horsley said the new special education wing at Whittier was built to provide another option for the education of disabled students and better serve their families.

“We’re doing it to reduce travel time for these families,” Horsley said.

Disabled elementary-aged students that graduate from Whittier Elementary School may go on to attend Hartvigsen School in Taylorsville, which serves junior high and high school students with special medical needs within the Granite School District.