Supplies from the Warrenton Grade School high-needs classroom sit on the curb, ready to be loaded and transported to Hilda Lahti Elementary. Photo by Olivia Palmer.

The Knappa School District is gearing up to open a new special needs classroom at Hilda Lahti Elementary School next year. 

The classroom — one of five shared between the Astoria, Warrenton-Hammond, Knappa and Jewell school districts — is part of a program aimed at increasing access to student resources across the county. 

Knappa Superintendent Bill Fritz said the program allows districts to pool resources to better support students whose needs can be difficult for a single school district to meet due to costs, equipment, staffing, training and other factors. 

Serving a student with unique needs could cost $100,000 or more per pupil, but combining resources can bring costs down to closer to $40,000. Costs are also offset by funding provided through the Northwest Regional Education Service District.

Every year, the districts’ special education directors and superintendents meet to discuss how classroom needs may need to evolve.

“We really meet each year and try to figure out how to best align the collective resources with the needs of the kids to serve the most kids possible,” Fritz said. “And so the rooms kind of shift a little bit and change depending on the kids on a year by year basis.”

Historically, three of the five classrooms have been housed in the Astoria School District. The other two classrooms — a high needs classroom and a classroom for students with more challenging behavioral needs — have been hosted at Warrenton Grade School. Starting in September, the high needs classroom will move to Knappa.

Fritz said the consortium of superintendents, which meets regularly, began the conversation about a potential transfer earlier this year. One consideration was physical space; the Knappa School District has faced declining enrollment, while the Warrenton-Hammond School District’s enrollment has remained relatively steady. 

Another consideration was leadership capacity. Earlier this year, Warrenton-Hammond Special Education Director Suzanne Harris submitted her resignation. Given the anticipated shift in personnel at the end of the year, Fritz said superintendents agreed moving the classroom could be a helpful change. Knappa’s special education director, Brittany Norton, has been with the district for a number of years.

“You need good, strong, solid, continuous special-ed leadership in a district in order to continue to supervise a program like this,” Fritz said. “And [Warrenton-Hammond] felt like they could continue to support one program, but two programs would have been a stretch for them.”

Warrenton students — and teachers — will follow the classroom to Knappa.

“It’s really just picking it up and moving it over there,” said Warrenton-Hammond special education teacher Emily Fewing. “It’ll be all the same stuff, just in a new location.”

Fewing has served as the teacher in the high needs classroom at Warrenton Grade School with the support of three educational assistants. The plan is to have support staff join her as the classroom moves to Hilda Lahti Elementary, too. 

Fritz said the district is working with a current educational assistant to determine whether the person is interested in following the program to Knappa. It is also seeking to hire a couple of additional support staff before the new school year begins. 

Although the change in location will mean longer drives for Warrenton-Hammond families, Fritz is hopeful it will provide more continuity for Knappa students and help equitably distribute resources. This past year, half of the students in the high needs classroom were from Knappa. For the coming school year, four of the 10 to 12 participants are expected to be from Knappa. 

All of the students in the classroom from different districts already know one another, he said — but their presence can also make a difference for students outside of the classroom.

“I think sometimes, you know, if you’re like the only child with certain needs in a school, it could be a little lonely. You don’t have anybody else like you in the school, and I think that when you see others are facing similar challenges, yes, that’s a benefit,” he said. 

“But the other thing is with programs like this, we’re glad to house it because not only do kids in this classroom learn, but the typically developing peers learn by having exposure experiences with students who have challenges, so they learn skills like empathy, and they learn about helping others and acceptance.”