Council Rock

 It all started in 1977, when ten year old Anthony, who had cerebral palsy was adjusting to his   neighborhood elementary school. The practice of inclusion or mainstreaming, as it was called then, was new for the school and Anthony was having trouble adapting

Academically, he was doing well, but he complained that the children in his class would not talk to him because he was different. In order to help him, Anthony’s special education teacher created a puppet she named “Mark Riley,” to educate the kids in the classroom about cerebral palsy. After that, many things changed for Anthony and The Kids on the Block, Inc. was launched.

Since then, thousands of “Mark Rileys” and the more than fifty other available “Kids” have educated children worldwide through a growing network of more than 1600 performing troupes in 30 countries!

   Our Kids on the Block puppeteers are students from CR North and CR South.  They volunteer many hours during the winter season to prepare their performances for the school district 3rd graders. Although Council Rock only performs 5 scripts, there are over 40 different available Kids on the Block topics about disability awareness, social issues and medical and educational differences.