Old Missoula

Delma Fonner – Gifted Teacher of Missoula’s ‘Challenged’ Children – Opportunity Resources 98 Years Later

 

”Opportunity” Is For The Children (1922)

How Handicapped Little People Are Helped in Special Room

The Opportunity Room!

The rattle and bang, bang of two weaving machines upon which are bright-colored rugs in the making; the crackle and rustle of reed straw being applied by little fingers to baskets rapidly taking shape; the click, click of heels upon the floor and the low, ever-cheerful tones of the teacher – all this in the Opportunity room of the Central school.

Miss Delma Fonner is in charge of those little folks who are failures in the grades, whose minds have stopped temporarily in their development toward a natural and normal stage and whose habits are just now in the shaping. They come from all over the city, these little unfortunates, for there is but one Opportunity room. In a white cotton bag, tied with a string, are the street car tickets which the school provides for those whose homes are far away.

Eighteen children are now enrolled, each one a case requiring individual and personal treatment, for different methods of instruction must be tried until the successful one is found, that method which is best suited to the peculiar makeup of the child. They are children who have never been able to pass beyond the fifth grade. To tide them over a period during which their growth is mentally at a standstill so that with careful, studied treatment they may yet return to their grammar school studies; to instill good habits firmly into the minds of those “borderline” children whose moral conduct must always be one of habit, rather than of reason; to give those whom she terms “motor-minded” plenty of that kind of work which he can do rather than that which the schools prescribe and which is of a nature utterly impossible for his mentality – this is the sum of Miss Fonner’s ambition.

And for seven years this earnest student and teacher of unfortunate children has maintained and cared for the Opportunity room. Of 36 pupils under her supervision last year, 12 are now back in the grades, again trying to work on equal terms with their normal fellows. Three are in state institutions.

Handicraft has been an important feature of that work done in this little workshop in the Central school. At present, the pupils are making for sale about 40 rugs on the two looms which form the equipment for this part of the work. An annual sale is held during which time rugs, reed baskets, matting work, wooden toys and articles of sewing are sold. Miss Fonner states that these sales, which net about $7,500 yearly, together with other sales made during the year would, if necessary, buy all supplies needed for her work.

Three of the children now under Miss Fonner’s care are considered so much improved that they will probably go back to the grades at the end of the year. The others – some will be re-distributed among the grades from which they were taken; others will probably seek the streets, as past experience has shown is the most attractive recourse to persons of the type. In the first event, they will be disturbing factors in the life of a school which can never be quite adjusted to their peculiarities of disposition; in the second event, they will form material for the probation officer and the reform school.

For the failure of the city to pass the five-mill levy at the last school election has abolished the Opportunity room during the coming year. Training in the manual arts, commercial work and the arts must be neglected for a time. And with them, also, the opportunity for little folks who can’t quite keep up.

 

The above article appeared in The Sunday Missoulian on June 11, 1922.

https://www.newspapers.com/imzage/352383013/

 

OPPORTUNITY ROOM PUPILS ON PICNIC

Teachers Express Regret at Departure From City of Miss Fonner.

The children of “Opportunity room” of the graded schools were given an outing Friday. In automobiles they were taken to the Effinger bridge, where they romped, played games, studied birds and partook of a picnic dinner. The entire day was spent in the woods.

The children were taken on this outing by Miss Delma Fonner, who for seven years has been at the head of the “Opportunity room.” Miss Fonner was assisted by Miss Boles, formerly an assistant in this department and Mrs. Maurice N. Bedell. The picnic was financed from funds obtained from the sale of articles made by the children during the school year.

The “Opportunity room” will close with this term – one of the departments discontinued by the school board. Considerable regret is manifested by patrons that this has been found necessary as these children will be assigned to the various grades, and on account of unequal grading will make the work of the teachers especially arduous, teachers say.

Miss Fonner, who has had considerable experience in this work is regarded as an expert. She will leave here for Columbia University when school closes.

“Miss Fonner has a way of handling children all her own,” said one of the teachers especially familiar with her work. “She has a way of winning and holding their confidence. I have seen children who have left school, grown up and married, return to Miss Fonner for advice and assistance, which she has never failed to grant. Particularly was this true during the war, when a number of soldier boys looked her up immediately upon their return home from the war. They had been pupils in the opportunity room at one time and had never forgotten her.

“It would be hard to estimate the good that will result from the influence of this woman upon the children that have come under her supervision during these many years.”

 

The above article appeared in The Sunday Missoulian on June 11, 1922.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/352383000/

 

More about Delma Fonner:

A Missoulian article in 1925 noted that Delma Fonner was a member of the faculty of the Normal school at Genesoa, N. Y.

Delma was one of six children of William H. M. and Helen Fonner of Endicott, Washington. Their family came to the Spokane, Washington area in 1890. Census records from 1910 indicate that she was born in Pennsylvania in 1880. One newspaper stated that in 1898 she was “teaching her first country school near Garfield” at $40 per month (considered a very good wage). An article from the Spokane Daily Chronicle from 1901 stated that she was one of 19 who were graduating from Spokane High School. By 1905 she was teaching a 4^th grade class in Hillyard. In 1909 she was a first-grade teacher in Waterville, while her sister, Josephine, had a second-grade class. By 1913 she was placed in charge of a special class of “defective” students in a school in Spokane. She gave an address at a Montana State Teachers Association meeting in 1915, regarding the problem of “Special Children.” In 1935 she had moved back to the Spokane, Washington area and married J. W. Person of Curlew, Washington. She died in Spokane, Washington in 1967.

 

Handicapped in Missoula’s History

A good history of the origin of educational programs in Missoula, specifically tasked for helping mentally challenged children, doesn’t seem to have been written quite yet. Mention has been made regarding some type of WPA program in the 1930’s. A WPA “Opportunity School” existed in conjunction with the State University and School District 1, but it consisted mainly of adults who were seeking adult education classes. This had as many as 1,000 students.

A Missoulian article stated that an Opportunity School opened at 216 E. Pine St. in 1954. It had 10 children enrolled and was supervised by Mrs. Ronald J. Little. Another Missoulian article in 1956 found that the Opportunity School was then located in the basement of the Old Roosevelt School on S. 6^th. St. West. It had 5 teachers working with 25 children. The school was in desperate need of funding since it received nothing from Missoula’s Public-Schools, except use of the facility. Parents were asked to pay $10 per month to send their child. By 1963 the program had moved to the Missoula County Fairgrounds. This school had four salaried employees and 23 pupils.

A new law requiring a special education program for slow learners passed the state legislature in 1961. By 1963 a special education program was set up in school district 1. Older and adult handicapped individuals were not addressed by this legislation. In 1964 Missoula’s Opportunity School was supported only by such organizations as United Givers, Missoula County Fair, local churches and private citizens.

In 1965 the Opportunity School Board of Directors requested that Missoula’s School District 1 take charge of the program for retarded children. It took several years for that to happen.

By 1968 State officials were referring to services for the handicapped as a “sheltered workshop.” Opportunity School children in 1969 were featured in Missoulian articles while working in a training program at an “Opportunity School Sheltered Workshop.”

An article from The Missoulian in 1970 quoted Mrs. Vivienne Hunter, the new director of the Missoula Opportunity School: “Mrs. Hunter said the Opportunity School is now operating as a sheltered workshop rather than as a school as in the past. Handicapped youngsters of school age are now in the school district programs.”

An article from The Missoulian on November 7, 1974 clarified the mission of Missoula’s Opportunity Workshop Program:

“A new service in 1974 is an ‘avocational program’ contracted by the Missoula County High School Special Education department. It is a followup program for people who have completed the special education program of School Dist. 1.

“The program provides ‘functional living skills and fundamental academics’ to people aged 16-21 who enroll, Hunter said.

“Until 1970 the Opportunity Workshop served the mentally retarded child as a school. Since the fall of 1970, when School Dist. 1 assumed responsibility for these children, the workshop has operated as a sheltered workshop to complement the school program.

“Members of the sheltered workshop are paid an hourly wage and encourage to ‘think in terms of good work habits and skills and take pride in their work,’ Hunter said.

“Other services provided by the workshop are home living skills, placement in community jobs for those able, followup for six months after placement, recreation and counseling for the developmentally disabled adult . . .”

The Missoulian reported that by 1975 the Missoula Opportunity Workshop was involved in five different projects, including basic skills, vocational adjustment, evaluation, placement and occupational skills. It had staff of 20 and a budget of about $300,000:

“The Opportunity Workshop began here as a school in 1955 and became a workshop in 1970.”

 

Opportunity Workshop’s name transitioned to become Opportunity Industries by 1987.

In 1992 Opportunity Industries Inc. and Big Bear Resources combined to form Opportunity Resources.

An article in The Missoulian in 1995 noted the 40^th birthday of Opportunity Resources:

“Opportunity Resources, Inc. began 40 years ago when a volunteer teacher traveled from home to home to teach children with disabilities. . .

“The nonprofit organization received its name when the school was housed in two rooms in the basement of a long-gone church on East Broadway. . .

“When public schools became involved in teaching students with disabilities in the (sic) 1960, the agency’s emphasis changed from students to adults. . .

“Opportunity Resources and Big Bear Resources merged in 1992, increasing the number of participants and services offered.”

Now known as Opportunity Resources, the program has expanded beyond anyone’s expectations. By 2019 it employed approximately 350 people and served 800 clients. Placement of clients in local businesses has often been successful. One client, Lee Myllymaki, recently retired from Missoula’s Pattee Creek Market in 2019, after working there for 30 years.