When Shawn and Annie Narayan\u2019s twins, Johnny and Gemma, were accepted into transitional kindergarten at St. John the Evangelist School in Carmichael, it was a dream come true.<\/p>\n
Both Narayan children were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live less than one mile from St. John the Evangelist and we had always hoped that our children would attend the school as many of the kids in our neighborhood do,\u201d says Annie. \u201cWe had a challenge finding the right preschool for our son, feeling hopeless about what educational opportunities would be available to them. We knew we wanted them in a Catholic school. When you get an autism diagnosis, you just never know what the future holds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found out that St. John the Evangelist had an inclusion program for students with disabilities, and we couldn\u2019t believe it. We met with (former) principal Christie Horton, who assured us that our family was welcome and encouraged us to apply. Not only were we \u2018allowed\u2019 to attend, but we felt like they wanted our family to be there. Today, our kids are thriving in kindergarten.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we believe as parents and as Catholics, is that all children are children of God. All children deserve to have access to the same quality of education,\u201d Annie says. \u201cEvery family should be able to send their child to their local parish school.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inclusion of students with disabilities is often a challenge for Catholic schools. Most students with disabilities need extra support, which can imply extra costs in the form of instructional assistants, adaptive technology, different curricula, costly evaluations and resources for specific accommodations. In public schools, much of this is supported by government funds. For Catholic schools, it becomes both a financial and personnel challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies raising children with disabilities face limited educational choices,\u201d says Katie Perata, executive director of schools for the Diocese of Sacramento, in a recent letter to Catholic school parents. \u201cWhile public school programs offer support, they do not provide the spiritual foundation children need to grow in faith and deepen their relationship with God. Many of our Catholic schools, though rich in spirit and dedication, have historically lacked the specialized resources necessary to serve students with individualized learning needs, leaving parents with the difficult reality that a Catholic school education may be out of reach for their child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since January 2025, when the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (FIRE) of Sacramento was launched (see story, page 22), that reality is changing. Annie, one of its founders and vice president of its board, joined other parents of children with disabilities in the diocese to champion the inclusion of students with disabilities in Catholic schools by providing educational resources, teacher training, fundraising, and promoting a culture of belonging. \u201cOur experience should be the norm,\u201d Annie says. \u201cThis is why Shawn and I are committed to the FIRE Foundation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Johnny and Gemma have Advanced Behavioral Analysis aides in the classroom with them, provided through their private health insurance coverage. \u201cSt. John the Evangelist has a long history of allowing children to attend school with their aides,\u201d Annie notes. \u201cI feel very passionate about helping parents work with their insurance companies to provide the same opportunities. Additionally, one of our goals is to normalize disabilities on campus, so that families with children with disabilities feel supported in a culture of inclusion. It\u2019s equally important for neurotypical children to attend school with neurodivergent children.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018This mission has become a much larger calling\u2019<\/p>\n
When Annie heard from Christie in mid-2024 that a FIRE Foundation affiliate was forming in the diocese, she reached out to Jennifer Sinner, a parent from St. Joseph School in Auburn, who was spearheading the effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jennifer, board president and founder of the FIRE Foundation, and her husband, Matthew, have been involved in expanding opportunities for children with disabilities to attend Catholic schools since their daughter Avery, 11, now in sixth grade at St. Joseph, was enrolled in an inclusion program for children with ASD at the former Holy Family School in Citrus Heights in 2017 before the school closed in 2019. They also have a son Grant, 7, a second grader at St. Joseph School.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Avery was diagnosed with ASD at 23 months old and it has significantly affected her day-to-day life, including her ability to participate in the classroom without additional support and accommodations. Since Avery began kindergarten at St. Joseph School, she\u2019s had a one-on-one behavior therapist in the classroom with her, provided through private health insurance, and she also attends privately-funded speech therapy once a week after school.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw firsthand the benefits of Avery being included as a full member of our Catholic school community,\u201d Jennifer reflects. \u201cHowever, it became increasingly difficult for us to provide the extra support she needed, and so we started looking into ways to give our school access to additional resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a result of the Sinners\u2019 experiences, Jennifer met with diocesan Catholic Schools Department leaders, Katie Perata and Tosha Tillotson, associate superintendent, in 2024 to discuss how to increase resources for children with disabilities in Catholic schools. Jennifer\u00a0 received the blessing from diocesan leadership to move forward with the process of affiliating with the established FIRE Foundation in Kansas City, and then worked to launch the FIRE Foundation of Sacramento.<\/p>\n
Jennifer, a 2000 graduate of Holy Family School in Citrus Heights, a 2004 graduate of St. Francis High School in Sacramento and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, worked as a certified public accountant until Avery\u2019s diagnosis. She has devoted the past several years to volunteering at St. Joseph School and focusing on getting FIRE Sacramento off the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my initial motivations for starting FIRE Sacramento was for Avery and Grant to go to school together,\u201d Jennifer reflects. \u201cHowever, this mission has become a much larger calling for me. When Tosha informed school principals in May 2024 that we were forming as a FIRE affiliate, we received more than 100 emails back from interested parents, teachers and principals, and then held a general interest meeting in August 2024. From then on we focused the rest of 2024 on getting our board together and applying to become an affiliate.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIRE Sacramento \u201cstemmed originally from a personal need, but also we knew many families who desired Catholic education for their kids,\u201d Jennifer says. \u201cOur goal is to be able to provide grants to partner schools in our diocese that have said yes to admitting children with disabilities. This is important work and it has the ability to change lives. I pray that our community will open their hearts to our mission and the children we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tosha, former principal of St. John the Evangelist School for three years, who has worked in Catholic education in the diocese since 1999, has been advising the parents along this journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the years in my various roles, I saw how Catholic schools were supporting kids with autism and dyslexia, but I saw the greater need for supporting teachers and training them, and providing services at our schools,\u201d she says. \u201cAfter attending the FIRE Foundation\u2019s annual conference in Kansas City, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to provide something similar in our diocese. Because of the response and cooperation of our principals, I can see our partnership with the FIRE Foundation and our various schools growing over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith more financial support from FIRE Sacramento, our schools will have the capacity to accept more students with special needs, because the grants awarded can provide therapists, professional development and teacher training, and provide an opportunity for more parents to enroll their children with different diagnoses in Catholic schools,\u201d she concludes.<\/p>\n
\u2018We were thrown into the world of special needs\u2019<\/p>\n
Also serving as founders on the FIRE Foundation board, are Raquel Bedoya Means, treasurer, and Meghan Anderson, secretary, both who have played pivotal roles in advocating for more inclusion of children with disabilities in Catholic schools.<\/p>\n
Raquel is a graduate of St. James School in Davis, the former Loretto High School in Sacramento, and Seton Hall University in New Jersey. \u201cCatholic education is a major part of my life\u2019s foundation and it\u2019s responsible for who I am today,\u201d she notes. She and her husband, Charles, have three children: Charles, 8, who was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at age six and is in second grade at St. James School; Aelin, 3, who was born with Down syndrome; and Arthur, four months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Charles was diagnosed, and again when Aelin was diagnosed with Down syndrome during pregnancy, we were thrown into the world of special needs and it was a whirlwind experience for us,\u201d Raquel recalls.<\/p>\n
Aelin has suffered from many medical complications, and \u201cour whole experience with our children really opened my eyes to the reality that in the future, if we want Catholic education, we need a lot of support from teachers and staff. That\u2019s when I started thinking about what systems we can put in place so that our children, and any child with similar disabilities, can succeed.\u201d She notes that Charles is in speech therapy from the public school district and has supplemental therapy from a private therapist at St. James, so \u201cwe are fortunate he has all the support he needs right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve come to realize that in seeing the difference between Aelin and Charles, my daughter\u2019s condition is very visible and my son\u2019s is more hidden. When you can\u2019t see the disability, there tends to be more pushback on accommodations and therapy. With my daughter, it is very obvious that she will need extensive support, understanding and resources in order to succeed and that requires a lot of commitment and buy-in from our schools. We\u2019ve learned to be fierce advocates for both of them. It\u2019s been quite an experience for us, and we are still on the journey, but it\u2019s nice we are forming a community through FIRE, where we as parents can support and lean on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FIRE Foundation \u201cis very passionate about having children with disabilities in our general Catholic school population,\u201d Raquel concludes. \u201cIt\u2019s not just for that child\u2019s benefit, but for the benefit of the entire community. Our children bring light and love and joy into the world \u2013 they just need an opportunity to be included.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meghan and her husband, Craig, are the parents of Natalie, 10, and Brendan, 8, both students at St. Mel School in Fair Oaks. Brendan, a second grader, was diagnosed with ASD in 2019 at age two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meghan is a graduate of St. Catherine of Siena School in Martinez, Carondelet High School in Concord, and Ave Maria University law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. \u201cCraig and I committed to have our children receive a Catholic education,\u201d Meghan says. \u201cOur daughter was already at St. Mel when Brendan received his diagnosis, so for us there were a lot of big questions: Is he going to have friends, grow up and have a job? And one of the biggest questions was \u2018can he attend St. Mel?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After attending public school through first grade, the Andersons wanted Brendan to go to St. Mel, and they met with principal Megan French, who had Brendan attend a \u201cshadow day\u201d at the school, where he was later accepted. \u201cI would tell anyone that the relationship with the principal is so important,\u201d Meghan notes. \u201cA school\u2019s desire to have children with special needs in the classroom begins and ends with the principal, and I will be forever grateful to Mrs. French for supporting not just our son, but recognizing the value that inclusion brings to any campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now in his second year at St. Mel School, Brendan is thriving. \u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing journey,\u201d Meghan says. \u201cIt\u2019s been everything we\u2019d hope it would be, everything we wanted in religious education, as well as tremendous academic progress and friendships.The teachers are so patient, the parent community incredibly welcoming, and his teachers are always communicating with us as parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meghan says Catholic schools \u201cshould prioritize inclusiveness because it promotes the very virtues that our faith is based on. Inclusivity promotes compassion and kindness and encourages all children to accept people as God made them \u2013 to accept children as their friends and into their classrooms, despite the fact that some children may act a little differently.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many families, sending their children to Catholic school is more than about learning the ABCs or learning how to read and write,\u201d she concludes. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition in many families \u2013 it\u2019s a crucial part of their faith. Watching our son, Brendan, go to St. Mel School that first day in his uniform, is something we won\u2019t forget. That was an amazing moment, such an amazing day. As parents, it made us so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Shawn and Annie Narayan\u2019s twins, Johnny and Gemma, were accepted into transitional kindergarten at St. John the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150340,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-150339","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}