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Pat-Kam School

&

Early Childhood Center

           Awards Ceremony 2008

Founder’s Message

Ron Clahar

M Ed, MA, BS, RN

Founder/Principal

           Welcome to our 21st Anniversary Awards ceremony. Twenty-One years have passed so quickly. This institution started in an old colonial house with two students and two teachers. That old colonial house has been incrementally converted, expanded, re-converted and re-expanded to its present state of twelve classrooms and a capacity of two hundred students. This is just one example, but a significant one, of what we can do by using our creativity and innovativeness to do what is necessary, with whatever we have, wherever we are to accomplish our goals.

            Today I speak to you on a topic that is near and dear to my heart- healthcare for students. Twenty-two years ago when I contemplated switching from an extensive career in healthcare to the field of education, I wondered if my background in healthcare would have any relevance to my new career in education. Today twenty-two years later, I now wonder how does an educational leader, lead a school effectively without a background in healthcare. During these twenty-two years in education, I am baffled at the number of students that attended our school with a variety of health maladies.

D.C Heath wrote, “ Observation is the basis for all science.” I have observed over these years, that our school children are plagued with a multitude of physical and mental health problems that significantly interfere with their learning and performance. Some of the most common problems are asthma, sickle cell, seizure disorder, diabetes, overweight, obesity, vision and hearing disorders and a multitude of psychological issues.

Four years ago at Pat-Kam School, we did a survey of some of these health issues that impact students learning and performance. We were amazed at the results of that survey. Our school had an enrollment of one hundred and seventy-five students. They ranged in age from three years to ten years old. Seven were frequently affected by asthmatic attacks, two with frequent sickle cell crises, two with seizure disorder, two with diabetes, four with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and one with Asperger’s syndrome. These numbers did not include students with undiagnosed physical and mental health issues.

Based on my observations, if we could find the financial resources, a component of our vision would be to establish a multi-disciplinary health-care team to evaluate, prevent and treat the various maladies that interfere with students learning and performance.