Village Herald -- January 13, 2000

Lynbrook High School School-To-Work Program in 2nd year
By Lee Kolinsky

Seven life-skills students are well into their second year of Lynbrook High School's School-To-Work program, a class which prepares students for future working environments by giving them special assignments within the schools and the community.
The students volunteer their time in the business office, Kindergarten Center and at the high school doing different tasks. The jobs range from working in the zerox machine room to aiding teachers in the classroom of the Kindergarten Center.
The Lynbrook program currently includes students Joseph Day, Kate Conlin, Saeli Tavares, Jose Rivera, Elizabeth Hoeffner, John Miller and Ray Pearsall.
"[The students] are wonderful workers,' Katherine Fox, principal for the Lynbrook Kindergarten Center said. "They have been an asset."
Though the students in the program change job assignments every three months, Ms. Fox said the students in the Kindergarten Center did such a great job interacting with the students, she hopes they stay for the year.
"This is one of the best programs...we have," Ms. Fox said. "[It's] wonderful for everyone involved."
Barbara Cohen, vocational life skills teacher at Lynbrook High School said, the students are being taught responsibility and how to present themselves in the real world. The students' volunteer work consists of one period a day, three times a week.
During that time the students learn how to prepare for a job interview, write their resume and conduct themselves in a work environment.
"[They learn] everything necessary for the world of work," Ms Cohen said. "We try to prepare them as best as possible."
During the third and fourth year of the program, the life-skills students are given a volunteer job in the Lynbrook community. Each student is supervised by a job coach during the work day. A checklist is filled out and sent to the students' parents each month, detailing how well students followed directions, their quality of work, where they need improvement and their general behavior.
The work program also teaches students how to get to their jobs by public transportation. Although the school currently provides the transportation, students in their senior year must get to the job on their own.
Ms. Cohen said she believes the School-To-Work career and education counseling program is beneficial to the students and the district.
"These kids really do the job," Ms. Cohen said "They are valuable, good workers and learn skills they could actually use in a real life situation."
According to Ms. Cohen, Hewlett High School has been using the School-to-Work program for seven years and has a "mock" post office in the school where students get experience handling money and selling stamps along with various other tasks. As the program progresses, Ms. Cohen would like to see the post office exercise implemented at Lynbrook High School.
"[The School to Work program] gives [the child] more independence," Ms. Cohen said. "We want this [program] to lead to successful paying jobs."