Episode Details

Melanie Dawson:
What's really tapped into developing skills that they may have already had somewhat, but to really expand that and give them this connection to school that might they might not have had before; something that they love and they love to come here for.

Eddie:
I was mad one day, so I just wrote a song.

Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah?

Eddie:
About how I was feeling.

Anthony Godfrey:
And when you wrote that song did you feel better after that?

Eddie:
Yeah, definitely.

Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. You could say students are really rocking it at River's Edge School this year. On this episode of the Supercast, find out how music in a brand new school band is enriching the educational experience for students at River's Edge and how teachers are taking note, loving the experiences.

Anthony Godfrey:
We're here at River's Edge School talking with the principal. Tell us a little bit about the school and introduce yourself.

Melanie Dawson:
Hi, my name is Melanie Dawson. This is my third year as principal. I've been here six years as an administrator. River's Edge School is a school serving the students in the District who need the most intense social, emotional and behavioral support. They come here through a placement process and we have a lot of supports that exist throughout our building where we can provide them what they need and I take very seriously that this is their opportunity, not only to get some behavioral supports, but also this is where they get their education. So really making sure that we have as high quality and rigorous classes for them, so that the time they spend in our building, they are being educated at the highest levels possible.

Anthony Godfrey:
This is where students go to receive the most intensive support for social and emotional needs and behavior issues. Is that correct?

Melanie Dawson:
Correct. That is the population that we serve and they all come to us for a variety of reasons. We serve elementary through high school, so that is one thing that makes us unique. We have smaller numbers than they have at typical schools, but we have a huge breadth of the things that we do and the programs that we provide since we serve all ages.

Anthony Godfrey:
And a K-12 school means that you, exactly as you described, need to provide support for lots of different ages, stages of development, lots of very unique needs based on a lot of things in that child's life.

Melanie Dawson:
Absolutely. Absolutely. That is one thing that makes us unique, and that's one thing I absolutely love about my job at River's Edge. Because we have a small number of students, we also have a smaller staff than is typical, but our ratio of staff to student is actually quite high, so these students can receive an individualized education. Our teachers have to do a lot of flexing. Sometimes they'll be teaching an elementary class at one point in their day but then they might be teaching a high school class and there's a whole lot of variety and change even from period to period and year to year for our staff.

Anthony Godfrey:
You have to be ready for anything basically.

Melanie Dawson:
Yes, in more ways than one.

Anthony Godfrey:
There are some misunderstandings about River's Edge, and so I'm glad you laid it out so clearly. Some people think it's only secondary, first of all, and so