The Papillion La Vista (Nebraska) school district is building a new facility for its young adult community to replace a cramped and unsustainable space.
The Omaha World-Herald reports that the $5 million construction project will enable the program to adequately serve its students and even enroll more in the future.
The new facility will serve the district's Young Adult Transition Program, which teaches life skills to students with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 21.
Construction on the new facility will begin this summer. Its size will be about 20% of a typical elementary school - roughly 11,000 square feet - but will have all the functions of an elementary school, although more specialized.
It will have a reception area, a planning room for teachers and nurses, two classroom spaces and a model apartment that will teach students how to transition into living independently. There's also a multipurpose space, a kitchen to teach cooking and a large room for specialists, something the current space doesn't have.
Tammy Voisin, the district's director of special services, said the program was in a storefront for 15 years before moving into Liberty Middle School temporarily for the 2023-24 school year. In the former space, areas like the kitchen had to double as classrooms, and the middle school lacks an apartment lab like the one that will come with the new space.
The new facility also will have a secure entrance, something the program lacked at its storefront location. Construction is set for completion in fall 2025. Until then, the program will remain at Liberty Middle School.
Funding for the project comes from a $129.9 million bond proposal that voters approved last year.
