More Hamilton County students with disabilities can participate in workforce transition programs through an expanded partnership between the school district and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
This fall, Hamilton County Schools launched Switch2Adulting to provide another support program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program is designed to help those students during the transition from high school to the workforce.
“We have a belief in our strategic plan that it’s this community’s responsibility to remove barriers for students, and this is exactly what this partnership is doing, is it’s removing barriers for our kids,” Superintendent Justin Robertson said Tuesday during a media day for the program.
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The district has pushed its exceptional education department in recent years to think about the transition plans for students with disabilities after they age out of public education, he said. This new program builds on those efforts, equipping students to move on to one of the two previously established programs or another aspect of life after high school.
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New program provides Hamilton County students with disabilities transition to workforce support
In 2018, Project Search — a national transition-to-work program for young adults with disabilities — launched in Hamilton County. Of the 42 students who have graduated from the program, 36 are employed, BlueCross Chief Learning Officer Michelle Sermon-Davis said.
The school district later started a Transition2Work program after it found that there were more students who wanted to participate than spots, as well as a need for some students to receive more independent living skills training and work exposure before starting Project Search, exceptional education transition facilitator Mark Heydt said.
Regardless of where a student starts, the goal is for them to reach competitive employment or to be as independent as they possibly can be in the community, the district’s exceptional education transition lead, Wendy Evett, said.
This year, BlueCross is hosting 20 students at its Cameron Hill campus who are part of the Transition2Work and Switch2Adulting program, Sermon-Davis said.
Students enrolled in the programs gain work experience through internships and receive classroom instruction in developing soft skills and independent living skills. A student in the Switch2Adulting program works up to five hours a week while a Transition2Work student works about 15 hours a week, Evett said.
For instance, Nakiaya Womack spends every weekday morning working with Holiday Inn’s housekeeping department. Other students work at a local pizza shop or in various divisions at BlueCross, Evett said.
Womack, who is part of the Transition2Work program, said she’s learned how to use a washing machine and dryer, as well as how to fold sheets and pillow cases. She described the work as good but tiring.
“It’s been great,” she said in an interview. “I’ve made a lot of friends.”
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Each of the academy’s programs focus on self-advocacy, work, independence, technology, community and health, Sermon-Davis said.
Those components align well with the district’s portrait of a graduate, Robertson said. Under its strategic plan, the district strives to create graduates who are academically thriving, solutions-oriented, effective communicators, resilient learners, and culturally aware and community involved.
“When I think about what we want for our graduates in Hamilton County, what this Switch Academy is providing for these 20 students that sit here in front of me is exactly that,” Robertson said. “It’s offering them a path to become the portrait of a graduate that we want to see in Hamilton County Schools.”
Evett wants the community to know that the students are capable and are receiving training. The program also helps change others’ perspectives of the students, she said.
“Being here and being around other departments,” she said in an interview, “that helps them see how they are capable.”
Contact Shannon Coan at scoan@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.