Services

Nurse: Denali has a full-time nurse, Pattie Welch, whose office is located at the main office in the school. If you have wellness or medication questions or concerns regarding your child, call or come by the office.

Counselor: The full-time, on-site school counselor, Janice Banta, has a vital role in every student’s life at Denali. All students participate in guidance lessons taught by Ms. Banta. The counselor is also available for crisis intervention, assistance with community referrals, short-term goal directed individual sessions with students (with parent permission) and facilitation of small groups (also with parent permission). Ms. Banta oversees Denali’s peer mediation program for conflict resolution, which has been in place at Denali for several years. Intermediate students are eligible for mediation training, but the goal at Denali is for all students to acquire mediation skills. The counselor is available to counsel with parents regarding school-related issues that affect their children. Ms. Banta can be reached by phone at 742-5073 or via email. Her office is located in Room 123.

Psychological Services: Our psychologist is on-site two days a week, Tuesday and Wednesday. The psychologist assesses children for special programs, consults with teachers on a variety of issues, works with children who are having behavioral difficulties, and is available to consult with parents about school related issues concerning their children.

Gifted Program: The gifted program offers students an enrichment and individualized acceleration program. The evaluation coordinator for the gifted program, Peter Ljubicich, administers tests to students who have been identified as candidates based on work reviews, test data, and student/parent/teacher interviews.

Special Education: The special education program offers specialized assistance to students in math, reading, language arts and behavior. Resource teachers work with students in small groups or in a student’s homeroom to help a student develop self confidence, a responsible attitude toward learning, and improved study skills.

Intensive Needs Classrooms: The Special Education Intensive Needs classrooms at Denali Elementary house a well established program which has been at this location for many (many!) years. There is a K-3 classroom and a 3-6 classroom with all of the
amenities necessary to provide the specialized care some of these students require. Teachers Ms. Deborah Harris, and Ms. Robin Walker, work together to providean enriched academic, sensory and experiential curriculum with the support of their six wonderful staff. They like to paint, glue, cook, sing, make messes and have fun whenever possible! Oh, and they like to go on lots of field trips!

Speech/Language Services: Speech/language teachers assess and treat communication disorders in the areas of articulation, language and voice. They are supported by a teacher assistant.

Bilingual Education: Students who speak languages other than English are taught the English language by the bilingual tutor, Ardis Mutini, who works with children individually and in the homeroom classroom.

Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Adapted Physical Education: Children with special needs are taught fine motor and gross motor skills by a physical therapist, occupational therapist and a certified occupational therapy assistant. There is also an adaptive physical education teacher at Denali.

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