A mission has been accomplished — all four diocesan high schools
have a program allowing students with intellectual and developmental
disabilities the opportunity to receive a Catholic education.
The inaugural Diocesan Peer Mentor Leadership Institute, hosted
by Marymount University, took place in Arlington Oct. 30. The institute was a
collaborative event between the diocesan high schools to bring peer mentors with
students with disabilities together to learn more and collaborate on their
work. From each school, 10 peer mentors, inclusion leaders and a teacher
attended the event. Marymount graduate students led the breakout sessions.
“We believe our mentors are the inclusion leaders of the future,”
said Susan Rinaldi, director of Expanded Services at Bishop O’Connell High
School in Arlington. “We hope they will go forth to help facilitate greater
inclusion for individuals with disabilities in society at large, in their
future destinations for college, the workplace, their churches and communities.”
Rinaldi said the commitment to providing inclusive education to
students with disabilities is unifying.
“At the high school level, our peer mentors make our inclusive
services possible,” Rinaldi said. “Peer mentor programs are implemented
differently at each school, but they have a common role in each school, working
one-on-one with a student for the school year, assisting and supporting the
student in a given class, and forming friendships.”
Claire Whitworth, a junior at O’Connell, became a mentor “to help
people with special needs expand their knowledge and learn more about life,”
she said. “The fact that we can teach them things that may keep their whole
lives is really cool.”
“One of the things that I focused on when I got here is giving
and empowering the diocesan schools with the tools and strategies they need, so
we all can collaborate together,” said Clara Hauth, assistant professor of
special education at Marymount. “Our goal is to get the students inspired,
excited and to have some knowledge so that when they are walking inside the
classrooms and working with their buddies that they are confident and excited
to embrace that connection.”
Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria is the final diocesan
high school to incorporate the program, which will be fully operational in the
2020 school year.
“This is a natural development of a program we are already doing.
We are already serving students with special needs and learning differences. That’s
an important piece to this puzzle,” said J-Lynn Van Pelt, director of special
services at Ireton. “They make up almost 19 percent of our overall population
but now we are working toward making sure we improve that programming for
current students. We can now open our doors to a wider variety of students with
needs.”
Ireton is adding a De Sales Program for students with specific diagnosed
learning disabilities, as well as furthering development of their academic
support program and developing an Options Program.
Leo Alonso, Porto Charities president, said the Options Program
has been shown to work. Porto Charities is a nonprofit that assists people with
developmental disabilities through fundraising, resources, assistance and
education. Alonso said having the programs in the high schools serves the
entire diocese.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge spoke in an interview with Relevant
Radio Oct. 21 about the diocese’s priority on welcoming students with
disabilities.
“A major emphasis for us right now is we have 14 of our 41
schools who embrace and integrate students with learning challenges and gifts
into our community. There’s not just a space for these students in our schools they
are integrated into the entire community. They walk through the day just like
any other student in the classroom, in the cafeteria, the extracurricular
activities,” he said. “They are part of who we are and of everything that we
do. A goal that I have set before our Catholic educators is in a timely way, I
want all our schools to be able to do that. We know that when we do, we are the
ones blessed when we welcome these students with special gifts and challenges
into our community. They bring out the best in the other students and the best
in us.”
Elliott can be reached
at elizabeth.elliott@catholicherald.com or Twitter @eelliottACH.