Giving Compass' Take:

• Alex Zimmerman explains how the Brooklyn Transition Center helps students with profound disabilities prepare for a life that includes employment and community engagement. 

• How are students with disabilities served in your community? Can corporate partnerships advance employment opportunities for this group? 

• Learn how states can help students with disabilities graduate ready for employment.

When 16-year-old Sebi Smith arrived to class at the Brooklyn Transition Center on a recent Wednesday, he didn’t sit in a row of desks or face a blackboard.

Instead, Smith and a handful of classmates took out their plastic barcodes and “clocked” into a classroom that was built to look and feel like a CVS drug store — right down to the Hallmark card aisle and Ariana Grande soundtrack.

One student started dusting the shelves, while two others practiced making change with plastic coins. Smith, meanwhile, grabbed a circular and began plucking items off the shelves: hydrogen peroxide, cotton balls, and paper towels.

“Did you get any laundry detergent?” teacher Miranda Haraughty prompted, sending Smith back into the maze of aisles to find it.

These tasks may seem simple, especially for high school students. But they’re not for those at the Brooklyn Transition Center, part of a network of schools known as District 75 that only serve students with the most pronounced disabilities. These are skills that can involve potentially challenging social interactions, lots of outside stimulation, and mental math. And the stakes are high: If students don’t master the basics, school officials worry they may be more likely to live isolated from their communities and unable to hold down jobs.

“A weird unofficial motto is, ‘No one sits on their couch’” after they graduate, said Courtney Rattenbury, an assistant principal who has worked at the school for over a decade.

Like most District 75 students, those at the Brooklyn Transition Center typically have cognitive disabilities, autism, sensory issues, or severe emotional needs. They typically stay in the school system until age 21 and aren’t eligible for a traditional high school diploma.

Read the full article about educating students with profound disabilities by Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat.