High School Job Coach Plays Pivotal Role in Students Lives

Although Robert Hans' role as Job Coach for New Milford High School falls under the auspices of Special Services, it is easy to envision how his role could eventually expand into the mainstream world.

School districts, like New Milford, have established the position of Special Education Job Coach for the purpose of supporting work experience opportunities for special education students by reaching out to local community businesses and organizations in an effort to develop pre-employment and employment skills for their students.

Head of Special Services for New Milford Schools, Ray Dorso, said that Hans, whose background is in Human Resources, is a perfect fit for the position. His corporate experience in hiring, conducting interviews, dealing with differing learning styles in order to build teams, effective communication, and training people makes him an ideal person to work with students in preparing them for going out into the community to learn and understand the responsibility of holding a job.

"We had to find a way to prepare those students who are not college bound," Dorso said. "Just as vigorously as we prepare those students for college," he added.

For the students who participate in this program, freshman and sophomore year are spent building the foundational skills needed to prepare them for going out into the workplace--communication being a key factor. Junior year, or when the student turns 16, Hans works with the student to place them in an internship with a local business.

"When they finally go off-site to their jobs--that's when high school meets the real world," Hans said.

Hans and Dorso explained that even if the internship is an unpaid one, they teach the students that there is still an exchange in the valuable experience the students receive.

Already Hans has developed relationships with many of the local shop owners to lay the groundwork for future internships.

"These internships are really structured learning experiences," Dorso said.

Eventually, Dorso wants to individualize the program so that the internships speak to each student's interest--whether that interest is in music, art or cooking.

"We want to take these kids out into the community and really show them how a business runs," Hans said. A group recently went to Soprano's Pizzeria where they were given the opportunity to see the kitchen at work.

"Those are the real experiences that deeply touch them," Hans said. "Those are the experiences we want to further develop," he said.  

The end result of the program is to give those students who are not college bound a sense of direction. It is easy to see how this could also work for those students who are in the mainstream world whose interests and goals may be better served by a trade or specialty school.

"We're planting seeds that will grow into oaks," Hans said.  

"It's school meets work with the academic component being the bridge," Dorso added.

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