After a fire razed four classrooms at the Gateway Center for the
Handicapped, county superintendent Joe Fimiani was left with 38
autistic and mentally handicapped students with no place to go once
school resumes Monday.
After a fire razed four classrooms at the Gateway Center for the Handicapped, county superintendent Joe Fimiani was left with 38 autistic and mentally handicapped students with no place to go once school resumes Monday.
Gateway serves 50 of the county’s disabled students and lost an entire building of classrooms to fire Wednesday night. Fortunately, the preschool classrooms and administration building were left unharmed by the blaze and can still be used come Monday.
“It’s so awful,” Fimiani said as he stood in front of the crumbling, blackened remnants of a cluster of classrooms. “This school is one of my favorite places to come down to. I love it here.”
“If there’s any silver lining to this, it’s that school is currently not in session,” said Jane Howard, president of the Santa Clara County Board of Education. “Our first concern was to focus on ensuring that we had a location for our kids. A major challenge is addressing the physical needs of our special education students. The facilities we choose must address those needs.”
Fimiani and his staff have devised a list of several temporary alternatives to accommodate the students. They will be housing students in a portable at Burnett Elementary School in Morgan Hill and an extra classroom at South County Community School. An additional portable will be added in the picnic area at Gateway to accommodate the autistic students, said Larry Slonaker, public information officer at the county office. Parents will be notified by the end of Friday as to where their child will be relocated.
