Contra Costa County Office of Education

The Turner East County Special Education Program provides special day classes and services for approximately 70 students, infant through age 22, at 3 different sites in Antioch and Pittsburg.

 

The regional office is located at Turner Elementary School in Antioch. Support staff, such as speech therapists, augmentative communication specialists, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, and teachers of vision and hearing impaired students are also part of the program team. In addition, the California Children's Services has a medical therapy unit at the Turner site.

 

Parents are an integral part of our team and provide insight into their child's development and needs. We offer two parent training sessions per year. Students in the program receive instruction in academic and functional-skills. The curriculum is aligned with general education standards and benchmarks and provides access to the core curriculum. Numerous classes provide opportunities for community and general education integration.

 

 

ANTIOCH, CA – Betty McPeek, a Special Education Teacher at Contra Costa County Office of Education’s Turner Elementary School, had a vision to enhance the school’s playground. Instead of creating just a regular garden, she wanted to create a sensory garden for her students to enjoy.

 

A sensory garden stimulates and engages the five basic senses of sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. This type of garden not only allows people to connect to nature but encourages them to become more aware of their surroundings and their response to them.

 

The 48-year veteran teacher pitched her idea to Principal Terri Borgard and Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey, who both signed off on the project. CCCOE’s general services department prepared the area for planting and installed a new irrigation line. 

 

"When I heard about Betty's sensory garden idea, I immediately knew it would be a fantastic addition to the playground and expressed my eagerness to join in the planting process," Superintendent Mackey said. "Betty is an exceptional teacher who meticulously researches and plans her ideas to meet the needs of the students at Turner Elementary. We are truly fortunate to have Mrs. McPeek as a teacher and deeply appreciate the hard work of our staff, volunteers, and community partners. This project was a labor of love that will bring immense joy to our students."

 

Armed with a detailed map and scope for the project, McPeek set out to find a local organization to help fund the plants, soil, and materials needed to make the sensory garden thrive. After reaching out to dozens of local groups, Contra Costa Resource Conservation District’s Monarch Conservation crew took a great interest in a teacher’s "if there is a will, there is a way" plan and got onboard to help make this idea into reality. They worked together to allow student input for the new garden, creating pictures of plants and McPeek read aloud descriptions of each plant. In the end, her students used multimodal devices (communication technology), sign language, and their preferred modes of communication to choose vegetation with bright colors, all of which are nontoxic and even edible – including strawberry plants. 

 

The garden features various plants like hummingbird sage, woodland strawberry, salvia columbaria, white sage, checker bloom, woolly blue curls, sticky monkey, and clayton perfoliate. These plants were chosen for their sensory appeal and safety. 

 

After many months of hard work, McPeek’s dream became a reality. 

 

On Wednesday, October 16, in between back-to-back meetings and an evening Board Meeting, Superintendent Mackey showed up at Turner Elementary with her gardening gloves alongside volunteers and the Monarch Conservation crew ready to get their hands dirty. They pitched in with shovels, trawls, and tilled the soil so the ground would be ready for planting day. 

 

The next day, the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District’s all-female crew showed up with their big truck and tools ready to dig. When students, teachers, and classroom aides arrived, everyone was excited to get to work putting the plants in the ground. One student, Jacob, was especially eager and knew exactly what to do with planting. He was not a newcomer when it came to using a trawl or ensuring a plant had a proper hole. He was all in and enjoying this outdoor activity! 

 

It was a beautiful morning where all the classes at Turner were invited to participate in planting in the school’s new sensory garden. Within the garden grounds is the school playground where two new large playground pieces were added. One is a special merry-go-round made for wheelchairs. The other item is a large rocking device that accommodates wheelchairs and seated students to enjoy a back-and-forth cradle-like experience. The new sensory garden is the backdrop for the playground.