New special needs school opens in Frederick, Md.

The Frederick County (Md.) district has opened a new facility for students with mental and physical disabilities.

The new home for Rock Creek School in Frederick, Md., is a 79,000-square-foot facility, significantly larger than the 55,000-square-foot building it is replacing, reports The Frederick News-Post. 

Rock Creek provides special education to Frederick County students aged 3 to 21 who have significant mental and physical disabilities. It shares a campus with Walkersville Middle School. 

The $50 million facility will serve about 70 students and is equipped with a sensory room outfitted with twinkling lights and vibrating massage chairs that pulse in time to music. An enclosed courtyard has playground equipment accessible to students in wheelchairs. The hallways are lined with foam cubbies to give overstimulated students a quiet place to hide, and each room is equipped with plenty of soft, flexible seating options.

An instructional kitchen space will enable older students to learn how to cook safely, and a “movement room” has a rock-climbing wall and accessible indoor play equipment.

Standard classroom spaces have been improved as well. Each student has a desk with space for a wheelchair of any height, and every bathroom is outfitted with lifts connected to the ceiling to help staff assist students with limited mobility.

The classrooms also have large closets for storing students’ medical equipment, which often crowded the hallways at the old Rock Creek building.

The new building is also equipped with a therapy pool that gives students access to a wheelchair ramp and three hammock lifts to transport students from private changing areas to the pool.