Longview History
Longview was originally built in 1950 in Gaithersburg, MD. It opened as one of the first all black schools in Montgomery County and was named the Emory Grove Consolidated Colored Elementary School. The renaming committee selected Longview to represent the “long” distance traveled by the students and the beautiful view seen from the school (Sugarloaf Mountain off in the distance). The school housed a general education population until 1961 when Longview became a special education school for children with disabilities. The building, still in use, is now known as the Emory Grove Center and is currently home to alternative education programs.
Program Description
Longview School is a model of services for children and adolescents with severe and profound disabilities. Longview School is on the campus of Spark Matsunaga ES. With an enrollment of 1,021 students, Matsunaga ES is the largest elementary school in Montgomery County Public Schools; a system educating over 135,000 students. This MCPS program facilitates student inclusion in the general education program along with the transition initiatives that benefit each child. Matsunaga/Longview opened in 2001. Although Longview is designated as a “separate day school,” it is integrated into the activities of the Matsunaga ES general education program. Matsunaga/Longview was constructed from the ground up to provide this inclusive arrangement.
Longview has an enrollment of 54 children and adolescents. There are 8 classrooms, each staffed with a teacher and paraeducators. Longview students range from 5 to 21 years of age. Along with elementary, middle and senior grade level classes, there are classes in aquatics, art, music, physical education and technology. Using adaptive technology, students have access to the Internet and specialized computer programs in each classroom. A large selection of books and audio/visual materials are available in the Longview Media Center and their is a fully equipped computer lab with 8 computers.
Paraeducators provide individualized instruction, support in the classroom and “coaching” when the students spend time in the community. Overall, Longview has a staff of just fewer than 70 persons. Longview teachers and administrative staff are bolstered by a media assistant, a vision specialist, a teacher of deaf and hard of hearing students, social worker, school psychologist, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, assistive technology specialists, and registered nurses (from the county department of health).
Longview Activities
All Longview students live at home and travel to school in busses equipped with wheel-chair lifts. Every bus has a dedicated assistant along with the driver. Students are “mainstreamed” into Matsunaga ES, Cabin John MS and Northwest HS. Matsunaga ES is a community-use school. It is open outside of the school day for community-based activities. One such activity is the not-for-profit “Bar T” before and after school day care program open to all students. This is a great program for Longview students to attend daily.
Once a week, each Longview class has a community-based activity. Classes travel outside of the school from 10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Destinations have included restaurants, grocery stores, shopping malls, big box retailers, a bowling alley, adventure playgrounds and the county library. As part of the school-wide transition initiatives, vocational assessments are made and older students are placed at appropriate job sites.
The supportive relationship between Matsunaga and Longview schools, allows Longview students to spend time in both environments. Fourth grade general education students routinely volunteer in the "Buddy Club" and visit Longview classes on a regulary scheduled basis. Conversely, Longview students are welcomed into the regular education classes. Student interns from Northwest HS are regular volunteers at Longview School. Longview has a dynamic adapted physical education program, a handicapped accessible playground and an aquatics program with a therapy pool kept at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.