On November 4, 1946, the Everett School District opens its first permanent school for children with disabilities in a room at Everett High School in north Everett. A year later, its story becomes linked to the district's nursery school, as the two programs begin sharing both space and scarce resources. These twin experiments in education — one serving children with disabilities, the other offering affordable care for working families — will grow together, compete for support, and survive largely through determination and local fundraising.
Opening a Program
The 1946 program for children with disabilities trailed a short summer class taught by Elizabeth Kempkes (1874-1970), Vida Kent (1876-1962), Mathea Boxeth (1884-1957), and Elizabeth Boxeth (1873-1954), following earlier home-visit work by Mabel Bult. The permanent school was funded by the State Department of Public Instruction, with Rachael Patterson (1876-1957) teaching academics and Vida Kent specializing in speech under the supervision of Deputy County Superintendent Dorothy Bennett.
In April 1947, a delegation of parents petitioned the Everett School Board to continue the nursery program at Cascade Terrace (5101-03 Evergreen Way) after federal funding ran out. No district funds were available, but the board agreed to remodel the basement at Cascade Terrace Administration Building to keep the nursery open. That same spring, the state approved financially supporting the nursery school, starting on July 1, 1947, with state support of 50 cents per six-hour day. Workers installed a large window, laid linoleum, and painted the space to ready it for children.
The nursery building itself had been sold to the district in 1943 by the U.S. military for one dollar, on the condition that it continue to provide childcare at a cost of 50 cents per day. In 1947, the program was moved to 5101 Woodlawn Avenue, on a lot valued at $8,000 but purchased for $1,662.57. It was to serve jointly as the Handicapped Children’s School and the district nursery.
Program Expansion
By 1950, the program had expanded. The Everett Daily Herald reported an open house at the Cerebral Palsy School in Cascade Terrace, one of 154 such schools nationwide. At the time the school opened, individuals with cerebral palsy were often called "spastics," a shorthand reference to spastic cerebral palsy. Local newspaper headlines thus referred to the program as a "School for Spastics." Gerald V. Kincaid (1907-2004), director of education for handicapped children in Everett and Snohomish County, described the school as a collaboration with the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults. Physical therapist Arline Bovee (1920-2010), one of only two teachers in Washington with specialized training from the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults, worked with the children. Bovee's students were supported by Easterseals, a national nonprofit that fundraises for services for people with disabilities.
A 1950 Everett School District report counted 123 children who required services: 98 with speech problems, four with hearing loss, 10 with cerebral palsy, two with polio, and others with various conditions. Teachers at Cascade Terrace earned $180 a month for eight-hour workdays and received a $10 monthly raise that spring. Space was limited, and by September several families had been turned away. When the proposed 1951 state budget eliminated nursery school funding, Everett's school board wrote to state senator Howard S. Bargreen (1906-1987) urging continued support and noting that more than 100 children were enrolled. It is unclear if Bargreen responded, but funding would continue to be a problem. In June 1954, the school board petitioned the state for emergency funds for the special-education program. The state said that no funding was available but offered hope for the next budget period.
By 1952, enrollment reached 45 at Cascade Terrace and Garfield School (located on 22nd Avenue between Maple Street and Walnut Street), up from just seven in 1949. Supervisor Martha S. Reilly reported overcrowded rooms and overworked staff. Plans to move part of the program to Baker Heights School (located at 12th Avenue and Poplar Street) were canceled after a federal freeze order, and Garfield School was used instead. Parents voiced concern about the relocation, but officials promised the program would continue "harmoniously" (Everett School Board records, November 24, 1952).
District records showed the postwar population boom increasing pressure on Everett’s schools: 5,776 students in 1941, and 8,652 by 1952. Preschool programs for children with cerebral palsy, hearing loss, and temporary disabilities multiplied, but funding struggles persisted. In 1954, the district petitioned for emergency state funds for special education, but the Baker Heights building was found to be not up to code, and the city blocked use of the old administrative building. Director Gerald Kincaid resigned in April 1955. The program was reorganized under the personnel services department, led by Dr. Peter Zook (1919-1987) with Norman Kincaid (1928-2014) as supervisor of the Special Education Center.
In 1956, Everett consolidated its two nursery schools at Cascade Terrace under the direction of Mae Cunningham (1909-2003). The special education budgeted $47,500 for salaries and $3,000 for supplies. Speech therapist Judith Ann Hamilton joined the staff, and by 1960, enrollment reached 122 children from several districts. Home-visiting services were added to support families who could not reach the center.
Statewide Efforts and Economic Uncertainty
By the early 1960s, Everett's efforts were part of a nationwide expansion of special-education services. A 1963 Everett Herald report noted $53 million in federal funds allocated over three years for training teachers to work with children with disabilities. Everett continued to grow its programs through the 1960s and 1970s, adding vocational training and community partnerships.
Economic shifts in the early 1980s brought new challenges to the nursery school. Boeing layoffs sharply reduced enrollment from 76 children during the 1980-1981 school year to 22 the following year. The building, licensed for 66 children, operated at a loss of $80,000 between 1979 and 1985, with repair costs estimated between $30,000 and $70,000. On February 5, 1985, the Everett Herald reported that the Everett Early Childhood Center would close on August 31 unless 50 new full-time students enrolled to make it self-sustaining. School fees rose the following year, but enrollment remained low.
The building at 5101 Woodlawn Avenue stayed in district use until 1998, when the program transferred to Faith Lutheran Church. Over five decades, the school that had once housed a nursery became a cornerstone of Everett's early special-education efforts — a site where generations of teachers, parents, and children built the foundation for inclusive education and community care in Snohomish County.
