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Jessica holds a Masters degree from the University of Waterloo, was previously employed by the House of Friendship as Director of Housing Services and along with her husband and 2 children is a huge Blue Jays fan. Jessica loves CHOCOLATE. Oak Bridge Academy provides specialized education to exceptional learners with the core foundation of promoting behavioural flexibility. Jessica opened with a story about Dylan, a challenging student who was abandoned by the regular school system. As one of the first students accepted by Oak Bridge Academy, Dylan is a success story and has graduated with a future of opportunities and promise. This is a major accomplishment as only 1 in 5 children affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD) currently graduate high school. Oak Ridge creates individualized education plans and behavioural supports for each student and receives no government funding or access to traditional grants such as Trillium. With a waitlist of 50, Oak Ridge is moving from its current location at Forward Church to the Chaplin Family YMCA where 6 classrooms, therapeutic services and a gym will be accessible to neurodiverse students. A "You Make an Exceptional Difference" campaign has been launched with a goal of $250,000 https://www.oakbridge.ca/ There is a capital campaign in the works with room naming opportunities at a new future site beginning at $25,000. Responses from questions included that there is a crossover in some services with Kidsability, after-school and some weekend care is offered, a summer camp is offered, some students eb and flow between Oak Ridge Academy and traditional schools and that it is unreasonable that our education tax dollars do not support all students. Jim McPherson thanked our speaker and Prez Paul, noting Todd's absence, told a joke about a cat whose trip to the vet spelled disaster after eating Scrabble tiles. |
