SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— It’s a new place built around a simple idea; not every child learns the same way. Scranton is now opening a door designed to meet students where they are, while carrying forward a familiar city legacy.
“Every kid deserves their own way to learn, and every kid deserves their own shot at life,” Christina Barbone, a parent at the school, said.
The Scranton School District’s Jim Connors Learning Center at Monticello East hopes to provide exactly that.
The center focuses on giving students with autism the support and resources they need to learn and grow. It opened partially in August, but this expansion will give those students and their families the space they need to thrive.
“We just want to be able to service the students in any way we can; following their individualized education plans and making sure we’re reaching every learner. Making sure that they’re able to use their coping skills, work on de-escalation strategies, and really, just become awesome citizens,” Katelyn Nocera, Principal at JCLC Monticello East, said.
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The center provides students, kindergarten through second grade, with everything from sensory rooms, textures, lighting and sound to messages of positive re-enforcement, letting them know their goals are in reach.
“It makes me happy, and he’s actually learning with other kids. He’s learning his own way, and the teachers seem really kind,” Barbone said.
The building also honors the legacy of the late Scranton Mayor Jim Connors.
Connors’ daughter, who now works as the school district’s supervisor of mental health programs, says he was a strong advocate for the Scranton School District. To him, equality and education went hand in hand.
“His whole life was really based on equality and making sure that all people, but especially all children, had equal opportunity. And that’s really what this building does,” Liz Hemphill, Connors’ daughter, said.
Providing that opportunity shapes not just the future of the district, but the world, one child at a time.
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