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Show Monte Vista is model for nation Lee Glad, principal of the Monte Vista School, Farmington, reviewed the past, present and hopes for the future of the school which pioneered education for mentally retarded in Utah at the Tuesday meeting of Bountiful Kiwanis. Davis County acted in 1969, 10 years ahead of state laws, to give retarded children "a right to education." edu-cation." The original, small building at Farmington was made possible by assistance of parents and friends who painted and supplied furnishings, fur-nishings, he added. When he became principal in 1 979, the school population of educatable, trainable, mentally retarded exceeded 100. Glad said he welcomed the idea of training the retarded instead of "hiding them away." And today, he welcomes the recent change of adding students from elementary schools for a profitable mix which has been beneficial to the retarded and to the incoming students. Half the retarded are in wheel chairs and some face very severe difficulties, but the present program allows an interaction which causes them to challenge themselves to improve. The school's primary boundary, he said, includes two elementary schools which lessens the pupil load in those schools. This is a "health mix," he observed, ob-served, but in conclusion cited how "weighted pupil units" and present funding practices pose real problems prob-lems for the handicapped or special services in school districts. |