Sunshine School

Sunshine School came into existence out of a great necessity. After a few short months, the orphaned children who were living at Darius House made such tremendous progress, it was clear that they needed an education. The sad fact was that no school would take our children since they were labeled as “irrecoverables”. It was at that moment that the idea of starting a school for children with disabilities was born. RCE's vision was to educate children who were disabled from our group home, orphanages and from families living in the community. The school began in a rented house in the community. Through the generous support of Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda Maryland and many other donors

Scoala Raza de Soare (Sunshine School) opened the doors of its new, wheelchair-accessible facility on Sept. 10, 2004.

The new school building includes 7 classrooms, therapy rooms, office space, and a large multipurpose room as well as a sports field and playground Scoala Raza de Soare welcomes students with disabilities from ages 3-15 who were previously denied an education.

Staff and Students at Sunshine School

Currently at Sunshine School, we have 41 students with two thirds of the children coming from local families and the third composed of orphaned and abandoned children from state institutions and our Darius Houses. Our students have a variety of disabilities, including autism, mental retardation, language delay, cerebral palsy, medical issues, Down Syndrome, and sensory impairment. In addition to Sunshine School, we now offer 4 additional classes at our new Learning Center for children who need more intensive services in order to develop the skills necessary to be successful in a school program. We now serve about 20 children in this program

All of the teachers are certified in special education and receive ongoing staff development and support from professional colleagues from the National Rehabilitation Hospital and special educator.

Our Principal, Dr. Daria Neta

Dr. Daria Neta brings many years of leadership and administrative experience to her role as Sunshine School's principal. All the students (including Crinel, pictured here) enjoy their daily interaction with "Doamna Director"! Dr. Daria works tirelessly to ensure the high quality of education offered at the school. Dr. Daria and Ovi Martin, Director of RCE cultivates partnerships with local businesses and organizations in Arad. Dr. Daria and Ovi Martin also set up a wide variety of mentoring activities and opportunities with other schools.

Highlights of the School Program Include:

Emphasis in Academics. The staff believe that all children can learn. Not all in the same way nor at the same time. The children in these pictures are working on matching quantity to number and sequencing numbers.

Teachers instill a love of reading and books. Many of the resources have been donated from our friends in the United States.

Speech and Language services are available to all children with speech and communication difficulties. Here are speech teacher Mona is helping a child pronounce the names for the colors. The classroom teachers also make sure that all children have a means of communication and use sign language and picture communication symbols for their nonverbal students.

Marti Carroll, Physical Therapist from National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington D.C. consults with the PT at Sunshine School on a regular basis. Here is Marti Carroll with one of the students receiving therapy and Paula, our Romania PT in a therapy session.

Many of the children especially from the orphanages come to the school very underweight and malnourished. At the school, they receive a nutritious morning snack and lunch. They say grace before meals, practice good table manners and using proper utensils. The cooks are very popular staff members at Sunshine School.

Sponsors from the states such as the Sunday school classes at McLean Presbyterian Church, Ambleside School and Fourth Presbyterian School and Church donate supplies to the school. Here the children receive warm blankets and cards from their friends at Fourth Presbyterian School. The second picture the children receiving books from McLean Presbyterian Church.

Since the children due to their disabilities have been isolated in the past, community based instruction is a vital component of the curriculum. Several times a month the students take trips to the community to reinforce thematic units that they are learning in school. Here the children are taking a trip to town by riding the tram.

The children put on many programs through the year. They perform for their parents and at churches in the community. Here is a picture of the children in the Christmas pageant. The picture on the right is Namdi reciting a poem at the Mother’s Day Celebration.

The students that are eligible are all participants in the Special Olympics. The athletes participate in local and national games. They live up to the Special Olympic motto – "Let me win, but if I cannot, let me be brave in the attempt".