Fairfax Co. high school recognized for helping create an inclusive school environment
In his first year as a special-education teacher at Annandale High School, Jae Lee capitalized on the opportunity to bring a Special Olympics program to the Fairfax County campus.
It started out with 10 athletes and just a handful of general education peer helpers. It offered a unified basketball team, pairing students with disabilities with other students.
But since that inaugural year in 2017, the program has expanded, and now includes soccer and track and field teams, too. There are 20 athletes across the three sports, and 25 helpers that are involved.
âIt was a chance for our students, especially in our special education program, to have access to sports and activities that, traditionally, they wouldnât have access to because they normally would not try out for a varsity or a JV team,â Lee said.
Now, years after the program started, Annandale is one of nine schools in Virginia to be recognized as a Special Olympics National Unified Champion School. The award honors schools that meet 10 âstandards of excellenceâ and help create an inclusive environment.
âInclusivity is just a really big thing that, here at Annandale, we stand for and support,â student Sage Nagle said.
It may look different depending on the time of day, but Nagle said the group meets up with athletes in a classroom, and then will walk with them to a court, field or track thatâs usually on the schoolâs campus. The general education students stretch, pass and dribble with them, and theyâre âeither next to them or on the sideline, cheering them on, giving them that support that they need to really succeed,â she said.
The buy-in, Lee said, is evident in the hallways, where the students connect and support each other, even if itâs brief.
When teacher Katie Shaw started at the school last year, she was struck by the way everyone in the building was aware of what the program does.
âEveryone in this building supports that and stands by it with us,â Shaw said. âSo itâs a whole-school approach, and itâs a team effort in inclusion and just promoting what we stand by.â
The program has been especially helpful for students such as Sonny Hernandez, who started playing basketball as part of a Special Olympics program in middle school. Initially, he had sensory overload upon walking into a crowded gym, because of all the lights and commotion. But now, his mom Autumn said, heâs confident and grabs the ball without hesitation.
âI never see him as comfortable as he is when heâs on the field with his teammates,â Autumn said. âHe just looks so relaxed and happy to be there.â
While the program gives Sonny the chance to enjoy sports, Autumn said itâs also helpful for the general education students, because âthe more interaction they get to have with people with disabilities, the more comfortable they become, so that it just becomes a normal interaction and not something to be uncomfortable with.â
The standards used to evaluate schools for the award include activities such as unified sports and making sure a whole school campus plays a role in promoting an inclusive environment. Lee said he applied for the honor almost every year that the schoolâs been a part of the program, but there were certain parts of standards they hadnât reached.
âLooking at the standards made me realize, âOh, weâre not doing this as well. Maybe this is how we get to become a more inclusive school,'â Lee said.
This article was published on WTOP on October 16, 2024 by Scott Gelman
| 
