Residential Life Program

Overview

WSSB’s residential program is located in four campus residences: Watson, Clarke, Hall, and Chapman. Each residence includes a kitchen, living room, shared bathroom, and laundry facilities.

Students are provided with an individual bedroom furnished with a bed, wardrobe, drawers, bulletin board, and desk. WSSB provides sheets, blankets, pillows, and towels; however, students may choose to bring personal bedding or other items from home to make their room comfortable and personalized.

Each cottage includes shared recreational spaces, including television, games, laundry facilities, and other recreational materials.

Family Communication

Regular communication between families and residential staff is an important part of supporting students. On move-in day, residential staff will work with families to determine preferred methods and frequency of communication. Common methods include phone calls and email. If there are concerns related to the residential department, they should be addressed in the following way:

·       Contact the co-advocate residential staff directly to discuss the concern.

·       Reach out to residential administrator via phone or email at 360-947-3354 or corey.grandstaff@wssb.wa.gov

Residential Goals 

The goal of Residential Services is to create an environment that fosters independence at each student's individual ability level, provides the resources students need to achieve their goals, and helps students feel safe, comfortable, and socially connected.

Through the residential program, students will develop social awareness and self-confidence while participating in a variety of leisure and community activities. Each week, Independent Living Skills (ILS) instruction will provide opportunities for students to practice important life skills, including cleaning their rooms, doing laundry, completing daily hygiene routines, working as a team to prepare a meal at least once a month, and completing kitchen preparation and cleanup tasks.

The following community agreements outline the expectations that each student is expected to follow while participating in the residential program:

 

Residential Community Agreements

To help create a safe, respectful, and welcoming residential community, all students are expected to follow these agreements:

·       Practice good hygiene: Shower daily, change clothes regularly, brush your teeth twice a day, use deodorant and reapply as needed, and take care of your hair.

·       Keep your room clean: Complete weekly room cleaning, including vacuuming, doing laundry, changing bed sheets, dusting, washing windows, taking out the trash, and picking up items from the floor before vacuuming.

·       Store food and drinks properly: Food and drinks must be kept in the designated snack drawer in the kitchen or refrigerated. Water may be taken into bedrooms.

·       Follow morning snack guidelines: Do not access snack drawers before school unless you are getting your own breakfast or packing snacks to take to school.

·       Check in and out with staff: Check in with staff before leaving the cottage, and make sure a staff member acknowledges that you are leaving. Let staff know where you are going and when you plan to return. If your plans change, communicate with staff by phone or another agreed-upon method.

·       Participate in weekly ILS activities: Participate in assigned Independent Living Skills (ILS) activities, including kitchen preparation (KP), kitchen cleanup (KC), and weekly cooking activities.

·       Follow curfew: Be in the cottage by 9:30 p.m., in your room by 10:00 p.m., and follow the 10:30 p.m. media curfew.

·       Follow food delivery times: All food orders must be delivered before 9:00 p.m.

·       Follow kitchen hours: The kitchen is closed for meal preparation at 10:00 p.m.

·       Treat others with respect and dignity: Treat all members of the residential community with respect and dignity.

·       Respect personal space: When visiting another student in their cottage, the door must be at least halfway open, and you must be invited inside. This includes visits to the study room. Students from other cottages should not enter cottage hallways unless they are using the study room. This expectation also applies to day students.

·       Check in before visiting another cottage: Before visiting another cottage, check in with the staff in that cottage.

·       Keep mealtimes tech-free: Technology is not permitted during mealtimes in the dining room.

·       Wear appropriate footwear: Keep your feet covered with socks, shoes, slippers, or other appropriate footwear when outside your room.

·       Move safely: Move safely throughout the cottage. Running and horseplay are not permitted.

·       Participate in community circles: Participation in community circles is required. Participation does not mean you have to speak; it means being present and sitting with the group.

·       Attend dinner: Students are expected to attend dinner for at least the announcements.

Recreation Program

The purpose of the recreation program is to develop lifelong leisure skills and interests through a wide variety of activities made available at WSSB and in the community. Recreation programs are a part of the total student program and are offered to all students enrolled at WSSB. Whenever possible, students are encouraged to integrate into recreational activities within the community. Transportation is provided, when possible, for students who participate.

Many recreational activities extend beyond campus in the form of shopping trips, picnicking, concerts, fairs, theater, and athletic events. Recreation programs are provided at no cost to students unless otherwise notified for specific activities.

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