A night to remember story Joshua Baethge photography Geroge Weems
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tudents were decked out in thei r best at ti re recently fo r the big dance at Plano East Senior High School. But this was no o rdina r y p rom. The distr ict-w ide “sensational senso r y ball” was a s p e c i a l e ve n i n g f o r s t u d e n t s w i t h s p e c i a l n e e d s . T h e e ve n t w a s o p e n t o a l l h i g h s c h o o l s t u d e n t s who at tend classes at Plano I SD schoo l s. Rega rd l ess of w hethe r they we re i n specia l e d u c a t i o n c l a s s e s o r n o t, a l l s t u d e n t s w h o h a d a specia l need we re welcome to come.
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Plano East special education teache r Anthony Rut tenbu rg was the p r i ma r y o rgani ze r beh i nd the dance. Befo re the pandem ic, he h o s t e d a n a n n u a l a u t i s m a w a r e n e s s e ve n t a t the schoo l. It was someth i ng ak i n to a la rge pep r a l l y, o f t e n f e a t u r i n g a s p e c i a l b a s k e t b a l l g a m e w i t h o f f i c e r s f r o m t h e P l a n o o r M u r p h y Po l i c e Depa r tments. Th i s yea r he found h i m self d i scussi ng the u p c o m i n g e ve n t w i t h c o l l e a g u e s a n d s t u d e n t l e a d e r s . A t s o m e p o i n t d u r i n g t h e c o n ve r s a t i o n , the idea of a special p rom was b roached. It
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