By GINA KINSLOW
EDMONTON — Improvements at Edmonton Elementary to better accommodate students with disabilities have been made, according to school district officials.
A ramp that eliminated the need to climb three steps in one area and handrails in a bathroom have been installed, and work continues on a canopy over a 57-foot ramp for wheelchair bound students or students who have difficulties climbing stairs.
“It will keep children drier who use it,” said Herby Bunch, director of transportation and maintenance.
He reported on the improvements at the school board’s meeting Monday night.
Edmonton Elementary was built in pods, which was the style for schools in the 1960s.
The pods are essentially individual buildings. Over the years none of the pods have been connected. Why the pods haven’t been connected is a question Bunch said people often ask him.
“That’s the way the architect designed it and that’s the way the board of education approved it to be built,” he said in an earlier story.
He also noted that the school was built before ADA guidelines were put in place, so no handicap ramp was built.
In recent years, however, one has been constructed. The ramp has limited access and was not covered until now. Students who previously used the ramp were often exposed to rain and other elements, which was something that concerned parents of students with disabilities.
The school has a wheelchair lift at its front entrance, but it doesn’t help students gain access to other sections of the school.
The small ramp and the bathroom handrails were installed before the school district dismissed students for fall break, he said.
“Everything but the canopy on the ramp was already completed and we were waiting on fall break when the students weren’t here to fix that,” said Patricia Hurt, superintendent.
The improvements were requested by Tonya Durbin, mother of a 5-year-old student with cerebral palsy.
Durbin said she spoke with school officials on several different occasions requesting that something be done to better accommodate her son and other students with disabilities, but was not satisfied with the results until now.
She says she is happy the improvements have been made.
“I’m glad that they started doing that. It seems like they are taking more steps, but they’re still a long way from being done,” she said, adding she thinks more accommodations for the handicapped need to be made.
