Local athletic facilities offer disability accommodations

Ithaca – Apr. 7, 2014 – New York Special Olympics events underway this month around the state are shedding light on the breadth of offerings at local athletic facilities for disabled individuals.

Recreation Support Services (RSS), a department of the Ithaca Youth Bureau, provides recreation programs for disabled children and adults year round through the utilization of community recreational facilities.

“We do a whole array of recreation, both physical and nonphysical,” program coordinator Joanie Groome said. “On a really good note, I can’t think of a single place that hasn’t been extremely accommodating to us. We’re pretty lucky in that sense.”

In order to use the recreation services that RSS provides, you must be registered with the program. There is an application form and an assessment to map out what is of interest to an individual, and also what support the individual will need to participate.

Even with the numerous classes that RSS provides, they continue to work to help as many people as possible.

“Every single one of our programs is full,” Groome said. “We know that we’re not serving all the people in Ithaca that could utilize our services, but we do the best that we can.”

Island Health & Fitness, an athletic facility near the Ithaca inlet, partners with the Cayuga Medical Center, and is attentive to the needs of individuals with special needs in that regard, according to General Manager Christine Cummings.

The facility provides ample disability parking, wide aisle space between machines, wheelchair-accessible exercise equipment and pool areas, as well as a full-service physical therapy center and spa for rehabilitation.

“It’s part of our mission to be inclusive and to better the community health,” Cummings said. “It’s not a discriminatory thing. We want to provide health and wellbeing for everybody.”

Island Health & Fitness is an adult-based facility. Only individuals 14 and above are permitted on the equipment floor. Head Over Heels Gymnastics, alternatively, is devoted to working with children in the Ithaca community, both able-bodied and disabled.

“We like to make accommodations on a case-by-case basis, depending on the particular needs of the students,” said Dean Altes, owner of Head Over Heels. “Many times, we start students with disabilities out in a private lesson situation to both help them get comfortable and give the instructor time to assess their needs.”

Sarah Smith, assistant manager of Finger Lakes Fitness, has worked with disabled clients, including one man with prosthetic leg.

“Typically when someone comes in who has disabilities, they have someone who comes in with them to help us out, and then we work to make them feel comfortable here,” Smith said. “We are all knowledgeable and can modify things or come up with exercises they can do, depending on their limitations.”

Fitness facilities both in Ithaca and across the country are beholden to the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, which lays out standards accommodating the approximately 36 million people in the U.S. with physical or mental disabilities. Athletic centers abiding by these regulations help disabled people achieve their fitness goals.

Story originally on Ithaca Week.

New discussion group explores ideas about Jesus

Ithaca, March 31- Stuart Fegely did not feel that there was a place for him and his spiritual ideas to go, so he created one. Jesusians of Ithaca is not a religion, and is not affiliated or sponsored by a church or religious organization. It is a discussion group for people who believe in the teachings of Jesus, but might have doubts about him being a Messiah.

“It was my idea to start up something like this because there really isn’t anything out there for someone who is interested in learning about, and following, the teaching of Jesus, but they don’t  necessarily believe all the teachings about his being divine, being the son of God, performing miracles, rose from the dead and all that,” Stuart Fegely, the group’s creator, said.

Each member has a unique reason for joining the discussion group. In some cases the church or its practices did not feel like the right fit for them. Molly Ames, a Jesusian member, has found a comfortable place to go each Sunday in the Quaker Meeting House. She joined Jesusians in order to discuss different ideas about Jesus.

“By considering the historical evidence of the real Jesus, I am able to consider other interpretations, other possible significances to common assumptions and beliefs,” Ames said. “I am seeking every opportunity to deepen my spiritual understanding, given my understanding of the modern world and science, and this seemed like a good place to do that.”

Some Jesusians, like Frances Bergstrom, have been involved with churches in the past but questioned many of the Christian teachings. Bergstrom has been a regular to the meetings so far.

“Christian education materials and sermons do not tend to give a more complete picture of Jesus and his times,” Bergstrom said. “What do I want to get out of the meetings?….New ways of thinking about Jesus and life and the impetus to become a better human being.”

Advertisements for the group were spread all over; the Ithaca Journal, the Freeskool, even posters on message boards around the Ithaca College campus.

Jesusians of Ithaca just finished their first month. They meet every Tuesday at the Ithaca Friends Meeting House. All ages, orientations, and religions are welcome to join the discussion. The meetings usually consist of watching a video or documentary and discussing the topic at hand. In the future they might read a book, Fegely said. For now, they plan to discuss the core of Jesus’ teachings, and how they might apply to aspects such as science, or gays and lesbians in the church.

According to 2012 data from the Pew Research Center, Americans are turning away from religion in the highest numbers since polling on the subject started. One fifth of the American population identify as “religiously unaffiliated.” As the population and its ideas about spirituality change, so must religious expression.

“The trend is unmistakable that people are leaving the churches in droves,” Fegely said. “I think that would be tragic if these people end up never even trying to explore the teachings of Jesus.”

Audio of Stuart Fegely interview

Story originally on Ithaca Week

Cornell grad’s micro-satellites scheduled to launch next month

A Cornell University graduate student’s NASA-supported vision to send affordable mini-satellites into space is likely to become a reality next month. On March 16, two hundred “Sprites” are scheduled to be launched into low Earth orbit, each one equipped with a solar panel, radio transceiver, and a tiny computer.

Zac Manchester, the project’s creator, said that these micro-satellites will be sending data to ground stations.

“So when it’s in the sun it has power, it turns on,” Manchester said. “It takes little sensor measurements, and then every once in awhile, sends a data packet down, transmitted through the radio.”

In order to fund this project, Manchester used the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. His campaign raised nearly $75,000 between October and December, 2011. Backers paid the $300 pledge have the option of tracking their own mini-satellite, and are able to design their own radio transmission to broadcast from the device.

“After the Sprites are deployed from KickSat [the device the Sprites are housed in], we will track them and record their radio signals using a worldwide network of amateur ground stations to demonstrate their communication capabilities,” Manchester wrote on his Kickstarter page.

A student in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Manchester began working on this project his junior year at Cornell. He said his goal is to make space exploration more affordable and accessible for everyone interested. The Kickstarter campaign ended with 315 backers and $40,000 more than its goal amount.

The funding Manchester received from his Kickstarter campaign has been used to fund the assembly of the Sprites. The cost of the launch is being covered by NASA through its Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program, which partners with universities nationwide to send small research satellites into space.

“The Sprites will be housed inside KickSat in several spring-loaded stacks and held in place by a lid,” Manchester wrote on his Kickstarter page.  “A radio signal transmitted from our ground station will command the lid to open, releasing the Sprites as free-flying spacecraft.”
Because the Sprites are so small they can only transmit a very small amount of data from the radio transceiver. Backers who paid the $300 pledge can choose what their Sprite transmits, but must keep the message to five characters or less. Manchester suggested to backers to put their initials as their radio transmission.

Several groups with a science or space focus had the chance to prepare a fleet of Sprites. The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) and individual members have a fleet of eleven Sprites. They became involved in the KickSat project to further their motto, ‘From imagination to reality,’ Andrew Vaudin, the head of the Kickstarter project for BIS, said.

“KickSat enables us to help achieve the hardest part – the reality,” Vaudin said. “Swarm satellites are a relatively recent idea whose time has come. Our primary goal for this project is the proof of concept because it is a concept with a lot of exciting potential.”

Astronauts for Hire, a non-profit organization that prepares aspiring astronauts for space research opportunities, has a fleet of two Sprites.

“I’m excited by what it’s going to do to get people interested in space and technical pursuits,” Brian Shiro, president and CEO of Astronauts for Hire, said.

The launch date has been pushed back numerous times throughout the course of this project, due to what Manchester calls “business as usual in the space world.”

The KickSat is now in Florida, and is scheduled to be mounted onto the rocket this week. Manchester says he’s relieved that the project is nearing completion but he still is invested in its success.

“There’s some comfort in the fact that there’s nothing else I can do at this point and it’s kind of out of my hands, but it’s still sort of a nerve-racking thing; you want it to work,” Manchester said.

By creating a more affordable and accessible spacecraft, Manchester hopes to engage more people in space exploration in the future.

Story originally on Ithaca Week.

Ithaca’s Board of Education challenges New Roots’ charter renewal

New Roots’ school charter was renewed last Monday, a month after the Ithaca City School District Board of Education voted to prepare a challenge if the charter was approved.

On Dec. 17, the ICSD Board of Education voted 5-1 to prepare an Article 78 challenge against the SUNY Board of Trustees – New Roots’ accrediting body – if the charter was renewed following a recommendation by the Charter School Institute (CSI). Board member Brad Grainger, who made the motion, and Superintendent Luvelle Brown, declined to comment.

Article 78 is “a special proceeding brought to challenge the activities of an administrative agency,” as defined by the New York State Court System’s glossary article. In this case, the ICSD wants to challenge the SUNY Board of Trustees, which oversees New Roots.

The board will seek opinions from its attorneys over the next few weeks regarding Article 78, said Rob Ainslie, president of the Board of Education, although there’s no decision yet.

“We’re not at all surprised that New Roots’ charter was renewed,” Ainsle said. “We just want to make sure that the kids in this district are getting the best opportunities they can, but we have no oversight of what goes on there.”

New Roots’ Principal and Superintendent Tina Nilsen-Hodges said there is no basis for an Article 78 challenge against the SUNY Board of Trustees.

“The renewal is absolutely in line with their policies and their definitions of what constitutes a charter renewal,” she said. “So there’s no way that there can be a finding that they acted in an arbitrary manner, or that they didn’t follow their own rules and procedures.”

New Roots co-founder and chair of the Board of Trustees Jason Hamilton, who is also an Ithaca College professor, said public school districts are fearful of charter schools partly because they are taking money out of their budgets that are funded by taxpayers.

“If a citizen decides to go to the charter school, then they ought to be able to take some of their money with them to this new educational experience,” Hamilton said.

Nilsen-Hodges said she recognizes that the introduction of charter schools into the public education world puts established school districts in a difficult position.

“We’re located in the middle of someone else’s community school district, which is under the jurisdiction of a board of education in that community,” Nilsen-Hodges said. “So it’s a very different kind of dynamic and relationship among public schools than has existed in the past.”

The motion to prepare Article 78 passed with a majority vote, with Seth Peacock voting against the measure and Chris Malcolm abstaining. Peacock, who works as an attorney, declined to comment.

“Pursuing a legal challenge against the SUNY Board of Trustees would be a colossal waste of money and the money could be better used educating students,” Hamilton said. “As a citizen, I would be quite upset that my tax dollars are being spent that way. As a New Roots Board of Trustees individual, it’s really neither here nor there to me if they want to sue SUNY or not.”

Hamilton also said he was relieved, honored and excited that the charter was renewed.

“It shows that this whole experiment with New Roots is really working and we’re starting to slowly reshape how people think about education,” he said.

The process of renewal for a charter school is ongoing, according to Nilson-Hodges. Each year the school produces an accountability plan progress report to show that they are on track with the Institute’s guidelines. The extensive review process includes on-site visits to the school, interviews with staff and in class observation sessions.

“It’s been an excellent process in terms of keeping us and this organization on what matters most, which is a rigorous program in line with our mission that focuses on the success of each and every student,” Nilson-Hodges said.

Catherine Kramer, director of charter school information at CSI, said the Institute will provide an update as to the progress of New Roots at a committee meeting in 2015, once additional performance data becomes available this summer and a fuller picture emerges of the school’s progress in meeting its accountability plan.

 

By Gillian Nigro and Jamie Swinnerton

Story originally published on Ithaca Week