SCKSEC: How it all began
July 03, 2008
History of SCKSEC
In May 1968, the organization E.S.E.A (Elementary-Secondary
Educational Act) Title III Project know by the acronym of Project
BEST (Better Educational Services Today) began serving twenty-three
Unified School Districts in eleven counties.
During the three years of Project BEST's existence, the staff
assisted the schools in the area of identifying the needs of
exceptional children. They provided psychological evaluations,
speech, vision and hearing screenings, perceptual evaluations, and
inservice training. A library of materials and equipment designed
to help teachers and parents work with exceptional children was
established.
When federal funding ceased in 1971, four of the original eleven
counties joined together to form the South Central Kansas Special
Education Cooperative. At a meeting held February 16, 1971, a
resolution was passed stating that the unified school districts in
Pratt, Barbered, Harper and Kingman counties would join together to
form a special education cooperative and all equipment, materials,
supplies and furnishings under control of Project BEST be turned
over to thee cooperative. It was also resolved that the services of
the IMC and film library be made available at a fair cost to any
school district currently participating in Project BEST. Meetings
were held to form the by-laws and adopt a constitution. A Board of
Directors, consisting of the superintendent and a board of
education member from each district was formed. Officers for the
Board, which included a chairman, vice-chairman and secretary were
elected on June 9, 1971, and the SCKSEC was officially in operation
on July 1, 1971.Fifteen classes for exceptional children were
established the first year. These classes were located at Pratt,
Kingman, Anthony, Medicine Lodge and Attica. Other services the
first year included: the services of two school psychologists, six
speech therapists, and an IMC which included a library of
instructional materials and a 16mm film library. Staff
totaled forty-four and included the Director S.C. (Buck) Winingham,
who had been with the organization since the onset of Project BEST,
one Administrative Assistant Ray Martin, one Instructional
Materials Specialist, three School Psychologists, six Speech
Therapists, one Learning Disabilities Coordinator, three Learning
Disabilities Strategists, fourteen Classroom Instructors, one
Instructor for the Visually Impaired, one Aide for the Multiple
Handicapped, one Aide for the Learning Disabled, three full-time
and two part-time Teacher Aides, one Bookkeeper, two IMC Aides,
three part-time Secretaries serving the Psychologists and
Itinerants and one part-time custodian. In it's history, SCKSEC has
grown from a staff of forty-four to a staff of three hundred
eighty. From serving one hundred twenty students to serving
fourteen hundred students. And from providing services for four
counties to servicing seven counties with fifteen school
districts.
