Chillicothe & Ross County — March is DD Awareness Month, and the opening of the Pioneer School show at the Pump House helped start it off Thursday evening.
Amy Beeler, Superintendent for the Ross County Board of Development Disabilities, was part of the crowd who filled the free public art gallery in Chillicothe. She explained the “DD Month Art Showcase,” including the large number of ceramics.
She said a business next door to the Pioneer School on County Road 550, “Biers Run Mudd,” worked with the school for get the kids involved with making their own ceramic sculpture. (She said that business is also run by members of the Barnhart family who donated the site of the school.)
I also asked her about the Ross County DD system. She said they work with more than 800 people “from cradle to grave.” They have only 88 children in Pioneer School, which is restricted to Ross County residents.
Beeler agreed that their DD system is an excellent example for smaller counties, and said that only about a third of DD boards still have schools.
Hear her in her own words in the below video interview.
The show runs through the end of the month. The Pump House Center for the Arts is closed Mondays, but open most other days at least 11 to 4. Learn more on the Facebook page of the Pump House Center for the Arts.
