District makes tough decision - Community Shoppers, Inc.

JANESVILLE
8 MESSENGER ■ Sunday, September 14, 2008
communityshoppers.com
LOCAL LIFE
CLASS SCHEDULE
MONDAY:
■ Evansville:
7:30 a.m. Scrabble Club meeting,
Levi Leonard Elementary School.
7 p.m. New York City band/choir trip
meeting, Evansville High School
Performing Arts Center.
■ Janesville:
6:30 p.m. Back-To-School Night,
Parker High School.
TUESDAY:
■ Janesville:
3:15 p.m. PTO meeting, Kennedy
Elementary.
6 p.m. PTA meeting, Adams
Elementary.
WEDNESDAY:
■ Edgerton:
4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Back-To-School
Night, all district schools.
FRIDAY:
■ Evansville:
7:30 a.m. Spelling Bee Club meeting,
Levi Leonard Elementary
School.
■ Janesville:
7:30 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
Grandparents’ Day activities, Van
Buren Elementary.
1:45 p.m. All-school wellness walk
and PTA fun run, Adams
Elementary.
TEACHER’S
CORNER
■ Robert Rivers
Elementary teacher
■ Sequoia Academy
Janesville
■ Personal file:
Rivers has
taught at
Sequoia
Academy, 466
Midland Road,
since June.
Previously, he was a substitute
teachers’ aide in the Janesville
School District for a year-and-a-half.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in
environmental science from Naropa
(Colo.) University before receiving
an instructor’s certification at
Applied Scholastics International in
St. Louis earlier this year. Sequoia
uses study technology to teach
practical uses of information and
promote healthy lifestyles for their
students.
■ Honor roll:
Rivers has planned several trips for
his students, who range in age from
kindergarten to seventh-grade, to
learn more about the environment.
He will take classes to local farms,
and hopes to bring in guest speakers
to talk with students about creating
relationships with their environment.
■ He said it:
“What I appreciate most about
Sequoia is its strong conviction that
all students are equally and uniquely
gifted. One of our fundamental
roles is to help students — whether
they are special needs or honors
students — find and connect with
their own natural dignity and their
curiosity towards their world.”
■ Extra credit:
“Robert has a deep understanding of
our educational philosophy and
goals, and has this knack for getting
the students to fully understand
anything that is presented to them.
He goes above and beyond to
ensure each of his students gets
the individual attention they
deserve; therefore no student is
ever left behind.”
— Christine Koth, executive director,
Sequoia Academy
CARING FOR CAREGIVERS
BY SAM KILLIAN
STAFF WRITER
JANESVILLE — Sometimes,
Heather Hollis needs a
break. Caring for three children
— one of whom has Down
syndrome and requires regular
trips to a Milwaukee hospital —
can be overwhelming.
So Hollis, of Beloit, sought
help from a respite program
offered by Independent Disability
Services Inc. The program provides
financial assistance so families
with special-needs children
can hire a part-time caretaker.
About 40 families participate.
“You need time to just get
away,” Hollis said. “The other
day, I went and just laid down
for about 45 minutes, and it’s
amazing how refreshed I felt.”
IDS is a Janesville-based nonprofit
organization that helps
improve the lives of families and
individuals with special needs in
the Janesville and Stateline
area. Besides its respite program
for families with special-needs
children, IDS runs another program
that provides help to
adults with special needs.
The organization will host a
silent auction from 1 p.m. to 6
p.m. Sept. 21 at the Janesville
Mall to raise money for the program.
Those in the program receive
$300 to $1,000 per year to pay
someone to watch their specialneeds
child while they run
errands or just unwind.
“If you can provide them with
that break to make them feel
like they can take time for themselves,
and get revitalized to
come back and give that 100 percent
extra energy to that child,
then this program is worth it,”
said IDS Executive Director Lisa
Ames.
Those without special-needs
children may not realize the
importance of
respite for
caregivers.
“Families
who love and
support kids
with special
needs typically
have a chal- Ames
lenge different
from other parents, in terms of
the amount of time, energy and
effort they have to put in to
being good parents,” said LuAnn
Kane, interim director of the
Rock County Developmental
Disabilities Board.
Hollis uses the money she
receives from IDS to pay her
mother to watch her 3-year-old
daughter Annie, who has Down
syndrome and last month had
open-heart surgery in
Milwaukee. Annie must be fed
through a tube, and so far has
undergone 11 surgeries.
“Having that money to offer
Mom helps me feel like I can
give her something, and I’m not
just bombarding her,” Hollis said.
“(Annie) is a special-needs child,
so she takes a little more time.”
IDS Respite Coordinator
Mary Cagney-Pike said a child
needs to see a life where their
parents aren’t their only caregivers.”
“It’s important for the child
to learn how to be with other
people,” she said. “Someone who
has been with their parents
their entire life and all of a sudden
is put in a care facility, how
do they react to that?”
Families are referred to the
nonprofit organization through
a variety of health agencies.
Cagney-Pike performs an evaluation,
which places them in one
of two categories, depending on
the family’s needs.
Those in the regular respite
program, which receives funding
from the Rock County
Developmental Disabilities
Board, generally have Down
syndrome, cerebral palsy or a
similar developmental disability.
Those in the at-risk program
have a behavioral disability, but
have not been diagnosed with a
developmental disability.
Sam Killian/staff
Heather Hollis
helps her
daughter, Annie,
3, drink a glass
of water through
a feeding tube
Monday in her
Beloit home.
Hollis uses
money she
receives from
the Independent
Disability
Services Respite
Program to pay
her mother to
watch Annie,
who suffers
from Down
syndrome, when
she needs to
run errands. The
extra breaks,
Hollis said, give
her more energy
to play with
Annie in their
living room,
below.
Organization offers respite to families with special-needs children
Give ’em a break
Independent Disability Services,
Inc. will hold a silent auction to
benefit its respite program from
1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sept. 21 at the
Janesville Mall, 2500 Milton
Ave. Proceeds benefit families
with special-needs children.
For more information, call (608)
754-5552.
Hollis knows her family isn’t
the only one that could benefit
from the extra help.
“I wish everyone could get (in
the program),” she said. “I know
there are a lot more families
who could use it.”
The Respite at Risk program,
which is partially funded by
Stateline United Way and
United Way of North Rock
County, has six families on a
waiting list and is the primary
focus of the silent auction.
Cagney-Pike said seeing families
on the waiting list due to
lack of funds is the hardest part
of her job.
“I really believe having that
break saves families,” she said.
“This is such an important
thing.”
Kane agreed.
“Giving those parents a break
sometime really strengthens the
family unit,” she said.
Hollis likes having a break to
attend one of her other children’s
school functions, to run
errands or just get away for a
while. She used a recent break
to take a long motorcycle ride
with her husband.
“Without IDS, it would be
almost impossible for us to do
anything,” she said. “(IDS) has
done more for our family than
they realize.”
‘... HAVING THAT BREAK SAVES FAMILIES. THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT THING’
— MARY CAGNEY-PIKE, IDS RESPITE COORDINATOR