My Community’s Diversity
My community is the Town of Coeymans, however, my school district is made up of three different areas. My high school was Ravena, Coeymans, Selkirk, (RCS for short). I would say that my school district has a very diverse income population. Meaning, that in my school district there are families that are at the top of higher income families and then there are families that are at the bottom of lower income. I have personally enjoyed going to a school district with a diverse group of individuals because it allowed me to learn that every family is different. That there are individuals that struggle and their lives are different than mine. It allowed me to grow as a person to become more aware of others and learn about others stories, other than my own. In my community, I believe income is what influences what type of care you can receive.
My communities resources
My community doesn’t have very many resources but they do have some, like stated in my earlier post. There is a local CapitalCare that takes all types of different insurances and there is also an eye doctor office that has a doctor come in a few times a week to do eye exams. There are many local gas stations, a grocery store, three different pizza places, two Chinese restaurants, along with two small diners. There are also a few local parks such as the Coeymans landing, Joralemon park, and Mosher park. There are a good amount of resources for families in this area, with many other resources just a short drive away!
Free and Reduced Lunch at School
A resource that I think is very important that my school district offers is free and reduced lunch to children if their household income is within a certain range. I think this is a great resource to have when you have a community that is so diverse. Parents have to apply to get this resource which lowers the cost of school lunch to $.025. The application can be found on the schools website, along with a list of other reasons that can allow a family to qualify for free or reduced lunch. RCS also offers lunches with no extra charge to children that have disabilities and have a restricted diet. To receive this resource medical documentation has to be provided to the school and then the school will work with the parents to make sure their dietary needs are being met.
Food Distribution during COVID-19
With all New York State schools closing for the remainder of the school year RCS wanted to make sure that children will still be able to have access to healthy breakfast and lunch options. Any child under the age of 18 that attends any of the RCS schools can receive free meals through the school district’s food service program. The meals can be picked up on Mondays and Wednesdays between 7am and 10am through June 2020. There is a list of locations on the schools website that states where the food can be picked up based on different locations.
Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Resources
When diving into the resources that my school district offers for a diverse community population I looked into the resources available for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. I found that the RCS school district offers special education for students with disabilities. In the RCS school district they give the students special education and services to the maximum extent appropriate with other students who do not have disabilities and try to work as close as possible with the students home (1). On the RCS website there is a list of qualifying impairments that could allow a student to receive these services along with a referral and evaluation. Fuller information about the services can be found on the RCS school district website.
School Resources during COVID-19
During this pandemic teachers and students have been forced to do teaching and learning from the safety of their homes. This has been especially hard for some parents that have younger children and are also working from home. However, the school district and the teachers have been trying to make it as easy as possible by using a platform like google classroom to assign, submit, grade, and video chat with their students. When thinking about parents now becoming their children’s teacher I thought about parents of a child that receive special education from the school. Having to learn from home could be a lot of added pressure during this time to try to teach their child. These parents might feel as if they do not have the qualifications to teach their child and do not want this to affect their progress in any way. Thankfully the RCS school district set out a letter that highlighted the resources available (like contacting teachers) to help their child with their learning (link to the letter attached here). In the letter it states that parents could request that all their child’s school work be in paper format if the student does not have access to technology. I personally think that is a great resource because in a community with such a diverse population there could be children that do not have access to technology for hours of the day to do assignments and video chats. Therefore, having this resource available to request the paper form of the school work can allow the students with no technology access assignments and stay on top of their school work.
Local Clinic/Urgent Care
When doing my research I was looking for a local clinic that could provide healthcare resources to families that do not have insurance when the local CapitalCare is not open. When doing my research I was not able to find any local resources that could provide the proper resources. However, I did find resources that are located in Albany New York, which is located about 20 minutes north of Ravena, resources in Glenmont, NY located 15 minutes north of Ravena, and resources in Coxsackie located 15minutes south of Ravena. These resources could provide individuals with no insurance or individuals on medicaid with the proper healthcare services. Though, there are no local healthcare clinics or emergency care facilities there are many around the surrounding area! These are great resources to have relatively close when needed!