SHS follows state initiative to employ students with learning disabilities

Every year at Solon High School, hundreds of students graduate, go on to college and enter the workforce. However, for students with developmental learning disabilities, the path to becoming a competitive member of the workforce is not as straightforward.  

In 2011, the Department of Developmental Disabilities launched an initiative with the state of Ohio called Employment First. The program’s goal is to encourage schools to prepare students with learning disabilities to become competitive contributors to the workforce.

Since the time that Ohio Governor John Kasich signed this executive order into action in March 2012, the state has seen a 16 percent increase in employment among people with developmental disabilities (DD). 1.5 million people in Ohio have DDs, making up 13 percent of the state’s labor market, according to Employment First’s website.

Kasich made his support for the initiative clear when he stated in an interview for the YouTube channel “OhioCapitalBlog” that “we want people who are disabled to have a full place in our society and our Employment First is giving people a lot of opportunities to get jobs.”

Employment First’s founding statute states that “all individuals shall be presumed capable of community employment… and that all people can work if provided with appropriate supports.”

To help get students with DDs on track for employment, SHS interventionists and learning aides Samantha Salzwimmer, Dina Weber, Elizabeth Jedinak, Cheryl Rauch and Cheryl Massey work with those students to prepare them for the workforce.

Salzwimmer stated that Employment First obligates the school to train the students with DD to be competitive and employable members of the community.

“Our motto is that every student can work,” Weber said. “If a student has a disability then the job of the teachers becomes how to train those students to work in a specific setting to suit their needs. This is so that they can do the best that they can do when they’re all done with high school; they can have a job, earn money and support themselves.”

During the first two periods of the school day, many students enjoy getting out of class with their friends and going to the Bungalow Cafe for breakfast or a snack.  However, what most students might not realize is that the process behind ordering their breakfast sandwich is a key learning opportunity for the students who work at the cafe.

Whether it’s basic cooking skills, using kitchen appliances such as the oven and microwaves, working the cash register, handling money, or interacting with the customers, the students who work at the Bungalow gain valuable skills and experience that allows them to eventually enter the workforce.

Jedinak specified that communication skills, the ability to take constructive criticism, good behavior in the workplace and better time management can be gained from working at the Bungalow.

“A lot of our students that we take into the community have vocational training and different opportunities in the community,” Salzwimmer said. “We’re trying to focus on Solon employers.”

These Solon employers include Old Navy, Giant Eagle and Anna Maria. Many students who worked at the Bungalow during their time at SHS have gone on to become contributing employees at such businesses.

Massey, who has worked at SHS for over 15 years, said that the Bungalow existed for many years before she began working here.  

Every breakfast sandwich bought from the Bungalow Cafe represents an opportunity given to a student with a DD to polish and refine his or her skills and develop employability skills for the future.