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Cooke School is an educational center for students with cognitive impairments. It serves students from 16 local districts in Western Wayne County, and its population includes students who are severely cognitively impaired, severely multiply impaired, and dually diagnosed students who are both cognitively and emotionally impaired. Cooke students may attend school until age 26.
In 2003-04 Cooke students were served by 16 teachers, 43 para-educators, and 12 ancillary staff. The principal is Marilynn Bachorik. The staff at Cooke continues to support the vision of a school community that inspires growth, values integrity and progressively meets the needs of all. The school improvement theme of relationships also continues. By strengthening relationships with each other and with students and their families, Cooke provides quality educational opportunities in a “school without walls.”
There are ever increasing opportunities for students to participate in the local community and with general education peers. Extensive community-based instruction emphasizes functional independence and practice for communication, social, vocational, and leisure skills.
In addition to 14 on-site classrooms, Cooke School has two satellite classrooms at Northville High School. Students and staff have been warmly welcomed and took advantage of many opportunities to integrate into the general education program. Cooke students and staff spearheaded Project THANKS! and collected over a 1,000 pounds of toiletries, snacks, and other small gifts to ship to its adopted platoon in Iraq. This was just one of many joint activities with NHS students.
Cooke also has one satellite class at the Western Wayne Skill Center in Livonia. That classroom provides expanded vocational opportunities for Cooke students who have expressed an interest in the Skill Center program.
Other educational and athletic opportunities include computer instruction, music therapy, an adapted art program, and an extensive adapted physical education program. Cooke’s athletic program offers swimming, bowling, track & field, in addition to general physical fitness activities. Many students participate in the Special Olympics County & State Games held every spring.
The 2003-04 school year was exciting and challenging. Over the summer, there were some “move-outs” but many more “move-ins,” and all in all, 20 new students joined in August. That had a BIG impact on the school population, and the staff worked hard to get to know the new students and to welcome their families. In addition, several staff members accepted new assignments and did an impressive job in their new areas. The high school classes started off more smoothly and were a bigger success than even we anticipated. In February Marilynn Bachorik and the entire high school team presented the school’s concept of “infusion” into the general education curriculum at the Michigan Council for Exceptional Children conference in Grand Rapids.
There were many opportunities for the students and their families to participate together at informational meetings and some fun events. For the first Parent Visitation Day, the school invited families to come to Cooke to have lunch and to participate in their young adults’ classroom activities. Shortly after that the school held its first family picnic. Both events were so much fun that they will become tradition. All in all it was a fun, active, and very educational year. Fifty percent of parents attended parent-teacher conferences last year.
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