Donna Cahill has been scratched, scuffed, bruised, and cut. She’s been bitten, hit, and had her hair pulled out. On one occasion, she found herself covered head to toe in vomit.

These are but a few of the minor tribulations the recent retiree has endured over the past 40 years as a special needs educator, an often-thankless job that can sometimes get a little dirty.

But as she leaves the school for one final time, Cahill said it’s the good memories that she will take with her.

“Even though I’d go home with bruises and cuts and hair pulled out, and I’d have bite marks on me, I would still go to school the next day and think, ‘We’re going to have another good day,’” she said about her approach.

Cahill started her career at Dr. S.E. McDowell Elementary School in the 1980s. After spending a decade there as a special needs educator, she moved up to Pontiac High School, where she was a pioneering founder of the “apartment” program, the school’s learning centre for students with special needs.

Over the years, Cahill made the space a home away from home for hundreds of students, many of whom had learning disabilities, were in foster homes, or faced other kinds of educational challenges. She built the centre to be a welcoming space that taught students not only how to learn in school, but how to survive in life.

Cahill devised individual learning plans for each student depending on their own learning progress, skill level, and type of disability. For some students, this could mean learning to read at a fourth-grade level; for others at a tenth-grade one. Some lessons taught students how to make emergency phone calls, or how to get around Shawville if they needed to go out alone.

But for Cahill there was always one goal that remained constant. “All I want is for the kids to leave here at the end of the day saying, ‘My God, I had a great day,” she said.

Sandy Pasch, who worked in Cahill’s classroom for over 30 years, said it wasn’t always easy to have a good day. One time, a student emerged from the bathroom only to vomit all over Cahill’s head.

“She had this funny look on her face,” said Pasch, who said Cahill was covered head to toe in vomit. “All you could say was, ‘Oh, well.’”

But Pasch said Cahill had a knack for staying positive and keeping the mood light even in tough times. “There was a lot of love,” she said, and a lot of positivity.

Cahill called the space “the apartment” because it is equipped with many things that a small, apartment-sized home might have: a living space, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Cahill said the group took full advantage of the kitchen space, often cooking or baking treats for the group and sharing them.

Pasch said it was important for them to create a space where students could share experiences and feel secure, even if it was just inside the apartment walls.

“We had kids that were disabled and in foster homes, and we gave it the feeling of being a home,” she said.

Gavin Murray, a former student who graduated from the apartment after the pandemic, said the program made it easier for him to adjust to high school .

“When I started there, I didn’t really want to be there. I didn’t like the idea of being a special student [ . . . ] and she made me feel very comfortable and very welcome,” he said.

Murray, who has fulfilled a longtime dream of being an actor through the Pontiac Community Players organization, and who previously held a job as a teacher’s assistant, said Cahill’s program helped him build confidence at a crucial moment in his life.

“I knew [before] I had to get pulled out of class for things, but as I started high school it kind of dawned on me [that I was different]” he said. “She told me it’s okay to be different. Everyone’s different.”

Cahill said there were some difficult moments over the years, including during the pandemic, when her students were not allowed to come to school.

“It was sad because the kids just did not understand why they could not come to school,” she said, adding that she set out to visit each of them so they could stay in touch even if they couldn’t see each other in person.

PHS principal Luke McLaren, who worked closely with Cahill in the school’s special education department for many years, said it was exactly this ability to go the extra mile that made her stand out.

“She provided a care that I think is special, and I’m glad to have worked with her as a colleague. Her devotion to the school and her students is evident.”

Cahill said she is happy to have had so many success stories come out of the program over the years, including students with disabilities that have been able to go off and live independently after high school.

As hard as it sometimes is for students to transition to life after the program, she said it’s also tough for her as she works with certain students for close to 10 years.

“I’ve had kids that I’ve been very attached to [ . . . ] It’s like letting your own child go, because that’s pretty well what they are,” she said.

“You see them grow and you see them develop [ . . . ] it’s like a second family, almost.”

As much as the job has meant to Cahill, she said that at 65 years of age, and with only one functioning ankle, it is time to slow down a bit.

“My husband’s retired and my boys said, ‘Mom, you’ve worked really hard, maybe you should think about retiring,’ and then I thought, ‘You know what, maybe I can.”

She said even though it wasn’t always the easiest job, she wouldn’t change anything about her journey.

“If I was doing my life all over again, I don’t think I would do anything different. I have really loved my career, and I still love it.”