Ozark School District aims to teach life skills with unique classroom space

The Ozark School District cut the ribbon Thursday on a new classroom space patterned after an apartment that's designed to teach students life skills.

The transitional living apartment, located within the district's Ozark Innovation Center, provides hands-on learning opportunities for the special education department, according to a news release. Students do not live in the apartment, but rather it serves as a way for them to learn about life beyond high school.

“The apartment will provide an opportunity to students with special education needs in developing the daily living skills needed to live independently or with assistance,” said Laura Eakins, executive director of special education, in the release. “The classroom is designed to introduce, teach and apply pre-vocational skills by using a combination of classroom instruction and real-life experiences and can be transferred into skills needed for everyday life and developing skills for future job placements.”

The district's maintenance team built the apartment classroom space over the summer in the Ozark Innovation Center, and this fall students learned how to budget and shop for furniture and houseware items. Students learned how to put the furniture together and put the household items away as they arrived.

The apartment space also served as a learning opportunity for interior design class students, who helped design and furnish the space, according to the release.