By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Anita Scheve, Wilson Elementary School principal, has been hired as the new Western Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative director.
She will take the place of Kyle Carlin who is leaving to take a position with Greenbush Southeast Kansas Education Service Center.
Although Hays USD 489 hosts the co-op, it also serves the Ellis, Victoria, La Crosse and Russell school districts as well as the private school students in those districts. In Kansas, special education serves both children with special needs and gifted students.
Scheve, 53, has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Kansas State University, and her master's degree in special education from Fort Hays State University.
She taught special education for five years and general education at Felten Middle School for 10 years. She then supervised the Learning Center, Westside and what had been the KVC program, which is now Camber. She has been the Wilson principal for 10 years.
She won the regional Elementary Principal of the Year Award in 2021.
"I have always had a passion for students who maybe need extra supports," Scheve said.
Scheve has a cousin with special needs, and growing up, she had a neighbor who also had special needs who she helped care for when she was in high school.
"I always felt God had given me that gift for a reason, and I needed to use that," she said. "Even when I taught general education, I felt I was better teacher because of my background in special education. I felt like I saw what supports needed to be in place, and I had much more insight."
She said funding will continue to be a challenge for special education. Neither the federal nor the state governments are fully funding their obligations to special education, which means local school districts have to make up the deficits out of their general funds.
"I think Kyle [Carlin] has done a great job of advocating at the state level, but special education is underfunded, and that will continue to be an issue," she said.
Within the last two years, students in the former Westside program, who struggled with mental health and behavioral issues, have been integrated back into their home K-12 schools.
"We want to provide the support and structure necessary to make that as successful as possible," Scheve said.
Wilson Elementary will close as an elementary school at the end of the school year. The Wilson students will move to the former middle school, which is being renovated into a four-section elementary school. It will be called Felten Elementary School.
Scheve's move to the special education co-op will leave a position open for a principal at the new Felten Elementary School.
Scheve officially will assume her new role with the co-op on July 1. However, she said she will be working through the summer to help transition Wilson to its new location at Fetlen.
"We have a lot of things in place and ready to start the new school, but it is opening a new school," she said.
She will also be working with Carlin in the coming months to transition into her new role at the co-op.
Although Scheve said she is very familiar with the Hays school district, she will be working to better acquaint herself with the workings of the other districts in the co-op and plans to visit those schools.
She said she thinks Carlin has done a good job with the co-op, and she did not anticipate any immediate changes.
"I make decisions based on data. I want to study and get to know the people, get to know the programs, get to know the students and get to know the parents. ... I want to be as responsive as possible to the issues that do arise," Scheve said.
As she moves forward in her new role, she hopes the co-op can be an advocate for students with special needs in the community.
"I wish the public would embrace that every student deserves that chance to reach their full potential," Scheve said.
She said she wants to provide more training for para-educators and continue to provide them benefits so the co-op is able to retain employees long-term.
She said she will miss working with the students and staff at Wilson.
"I'm also a person who likes growing," she said. "I don't like to stay stagnant. I like to push myself to grow. This will be a good challenge to grow."
Scheve lives west of Hays and has four children ages 13 to 25.