By Mary Morrell |Acting Managing Editor

The idea that every child has special needs is a compelling perspective that has kept St. Benedict School moving forward in its mission to provide every child with a Catholic education.

Cathy Warshaw, St. Benedict parish administrator and former adjunct professor at Caldwell College, explained, “Everyone of us has strengths and weaknesses. There are days that any student may be challenged by a particular subject matter or, on the other side, exhibit proficiency in many areas. Often times an individual learner may be challenged by languages and be gifted with math and science ability. The student who struggles with reading may be gifted with memorization for a play or other areas of the arts. On any given day a student can have a need which can be as basic as borrowing a pencil.”

The Holmdel school has been meeting children’s special needs through the efforts of general education teachers, classroom aides and Monmouth-Ocean Educational Services Commission support teachers, as well as investing in technology such as smart boards, smart pens and other mediums to enhance its programs.

This year, the school will take another step foward in the arena of special needs with a new initiative, made possible in great part through funding from the Jay Dooley Memorial Foundation, a family foundation located in Rumson dedicated to the memory of Jay Dooley and the special needs of adolescents.

With the second of two JDMF grants, St. Benedict’s has hired a part-time special education teacher, Mary Beth Crowe, to oversee the new comprehensive pilot program. Crowe, a former teacher of the handicapped at the Gateway School, an out-of district special education program, will be assisted by students from Georgian Court University, Lakewood, who will work with special education and general education teachers to provide tutoring, test modifications, and other known strategies for the specialized learner.

The heightened attention to special needs at St. Benedict’s, said Warshaw, began more than two years ago when a parishioner, and mother of a special needs student in the parish elementary school, approached Warshaw and expressed the desire for her child to be able to complete her Catholic education in the parish school, expressing a prevailing understanding that many special needs students leave Catholic school for public school in fifth grade to receive additional services.

Warsaw suggested to the mother that they take the initiative to “start something here.” The women were joined by two more parishioners – one retired from the State of N.J. Department of Education, with a Downs Syndrone child, and another, a young mother working on a doctorate at Rutgers in psychology and education, who had a premature child with expected special needs.

Coincidentally, all four women are members of the parish advancement council which evaluates what needs to be done to further both the parish and school.

Together the women undertook necessary research, met with experts in the field, and considered funding sources. Warshaw, for whom grant writing is a significant part of her job, applied to JDMF and received the first grant last summer. This money, explained Warshaw, enabled the school to provide a number of special needs in-services to faculty, bringing in outside experts to broaden their knowledge base of special education.

In addition, an Academic Special Needs Association has been created at the school comprised of parents and grandparents of special needs children, retired educators with special needs background, parents who are simply committed to Catholic education, and a component of teachers from the school.

 The ASNA is currently undertaking an aggressive fund raising effort to ensure the future of special needs initiatives at the school, and a capital campaign is being undertaken so a resource room for special needs programs may be built.

Plans are also being formulated for a parent workshop to promote the further understanding of the educational and emotional challenges children with special needs are facing.

Recently, St. Benedict’s hosted a professional development luncheon spearheaded by the Jay Dooley Memorial Foundation.

Participants from JDMF; St. Benedict School; Holy Cross High School, Rumson; St. Leo the Great School, Lincroft; SpeechStart, and Georgian Court University, gathered to discuss current special needs programs in place at their various institutions and share lessons learned in the process of moving forward.  Holy Cross and St. Leo the Great schools have also been the recipients of grant money from JDMF to strengthen their outreach to special needs students.

The luncheon provided an opportunity for experts in the field to share technical resources, specific programs, and techniques. GCU provided information on how their field placement and service learning programs work, sharing, in particular, how the programs will begin placing college students with St. Benedict’s to support  the new pilot program beginning in September.

Representative of the mission of St. Benedict School, Warshaw expressed her hope that “by establishing a pilot program for children with special needs, Catholic Schools will be able to replicate this program throughout the diocese.”

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