Meghan is one of our high school special education teachers and I was asked to cover for her recently on a Friday afternoon. She had a unique plan for me. I wasn’t going to be working with students at all during my hour of coverage. Instead I was going to be going to three different businesses in Mendocino to gather student employment timecards and deliver a thank you note from Meghan to the businesses for their involvement in our workability program, of which Meghan serves as the coordinator.
Workability is a program that gives students an opportunity for real world working experience. We work with businesses to provide these real workplace experiences to our students receiving special education services. It’s a collaboration that we value very much, in fact we hope to continue to expand the workability program as well as to provide more apprenticeships/interns for all students as they matriculate through high school and explore career options.
That day I visited the Community Center of Mendocino, Coast Real Estate, and the Gallery Bookshop. I enjoyed visiting with the businesses and it motivated me to do that kind of thing more often. It has been a goal of mine to just get out and introduce myself to local business owners to discuss ways we can work together. I would like to find out what skills they are looking for in their workers (especially if they are hiring school-aged students) and whether they have an interest in employing students or being a guest speaker in our classrooms.
100 Hours in Mendocino Unified 