By definition, inclusion means the act of including, and that’s exactly what Cathedral Catholic plans to do. If all goes as planned, next January, an inclusion program will be started at our school.

Starting the 2014-2015 school year, Cathedral will be accepting 2-4 kids that have developmental or intellectual delays.  These students will come to school 5 days a week from 8:10 am to 2:00 pm, and they will be taking the same classes as the rest of the student body. The only difference is that these students aren’t coming to school to get a diploma, they’re coming to our school so they can learn skills that can prepare them for the outside world.

Even though the students of this program will be taking the same classes as the rest of the students, their curriculum will be adapted. They will be in the same classes sometimes, but other times they will be in a self-contained class, a class which only the disabled students will attend.

But, who will teach the self contained class? The school is in the process of hiring a teacher/director to develop the students.

This program won’t just benefit the new students, but will also benefit the current student body. “This program will give the student body a chance to get comfortable with students with disabilities,” said Ms. Margret Billy, Director of the Learning Center. Students will also be able to peer mentor the students in the inclusion program.

Ms. Billy is helping to start the program. The last school she taught at, Holy Cross in Maryland, had the same program. “I like the idea [the program] and what it did for the disabled students,” she said.

This program has gotten started with the help of a Uni alumn, who wishes to remain anonymous, whose 7th grade child has a disability and wants to go to school at Cathedral. This program will make it possible for that student to attend Cathedral, and it will give the student the skills needed for the outside world.