Rutherford High School Doing a Labor of Love for Chautauqua Charter

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - You usually see a school bus rolling down the road, but this one at Rutherford High School even lets you roll out of bed.

The school’s construction academy is making it happen for those at Chautauqua Learn and serve Charter school.

“It was something we always wanna do something with our kids that is different from the every day,” said Jason Rodger, the construction academy teacher. “We’ve done the tiny libraries we’ve done swing beds just a variety of small projects and getting the opportunity to do something that they could apply those skills on a larger scale seemed like an adventure.”

Rodgers admitted it’s been a lot of hard work, with some roadblocks along the way.

“We got to the fall and unfortunately after we got it, gutted it and ready to do the wiring, we found out we weren’t quite as ready as we thought,” said Rodgers.

It’s all being done for Chautauqua School, a learn-and-serve charter school that teaches disabled students on how to live and work in society.

“Teach individuals how to be independent adults but all the students at Chautauqua have a disability of some sort or another so housing would be a challenge, said Cynthia McCauley a teacher and director of Chautauqua.

McCauley said learning independence is vital and the bus will help with that.

“Use the trolley to go shopping come back to cook do all those little skills right here so we can see where the glitches are, knowing how to go to the refrigerator knowing how to check all those things,” said McCauley.

Over at Rutherford, they expect it to be finished at the end of the school year. The school is actually building a tiny house at the same time.

“The tiny house that we’re building outside 576 square foot tiny house that’s got to be built at the same time so we’re kind of splitting out the skill set to make it happen,” said Rodgers.

For McCauley, she’s excited the bus will soon be rolling so they can continue to learn and serve.

“How to make sure the disabled can have a productive meaningful,” said McCauley.

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