Fire in the News
F.I.R.E. IN THE NEWS
He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother, my classmate, my friend Charlie
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By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key - Catholic Key Reporter
May 7, 2010
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Click here for the Catholic Key article on Sports, Inclusion and the Class of 2010
The first graduates of F.I.R.E. are ready for high school
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By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key
May 11, 2007
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KANSAS CITY - With pomp, circumstance and ear-splitting grins, Austin Dearth,
Nicholas Costanzo and Parker Levi will march in graduation processions at
St. Peter and Visitation schools later this month. The three boys are the
first graduates of F.I.R.E., the inclusive education program in the Diocese
of Kansas City-St. Joseph through which children with special needs can
attend their parish schools.
F.I.R.E., the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education, was founded in 1997 by six families at Visitation and St. Peter with special needs children. Children from three of those families, Parker, Austin and Nicholas, started kindergarten a year later. As the foundation is celebrating its 10th birthday, it funds inclusion programs at six Catholic schools and Archbishop O'Hara High School, which the three boys plan to attend.
Austin Dearth is looking forward to graduation, although he said he will miss St. Peter's. He sings in the school choir and has participated in the school's science fair in the past two years with good buddy Nicholas. Their seventh grade project on magnets took third in their category, F.I.R.E. paraprofessional Jeanne Crawford said.
They study social studies, independent living (including learning to balance a checkbook and go grocery shopping), and computer classes together. Nicholas is a good typist, Crawford said.
Austin and Nicholas also play softball with Visitation's Parker Levi in a recreational league for special needs children.
Austin and Nicholas are very protective of each other, Crawford said, and when one is absent from school, the other mopes through the day.
St. Peter's administration and the paraprofessionals worked together to design a curriculum for Nicholas and Austin, said Nicholas' mother, Tracey Costanzo, especially as the boys grew older.
"Nicholas is not really aware of F.I.R.E.," Costanzo said, "just that it's really great to go to school with his friends and his mom and dad go to a lot of meetings."
Both Austin and Nicholas have had a major impact on the other students at St. Peter's, said Crawford, who along with Carolyn Valdez, has worked with both boys for two years.
Eighth grader Nick Taylor sings in the choir with Austin, and makes sure that if Austin tires, there is a handy stool or arm nearby for him to lean on.
Nicholas played eighth grade "A" team basketball this year, his mother said, and both St. Peter's boys and other teams made sure he got to play his quarter on the court.
Jack Caywood has known Austin since kindergarten and considers him one of his closest friends.
"He makes me feel wonderful to be alive," Jack said. "No matter what challenges he faces each day, he always smiles and goes out of his way to do something nice or just say, 'Hi.' Without Austin, I wouldn't be the person I am."
Crawford said that wherever Nicholas and Austin went there were a lot of hugs and a lot of "high fives."
Costanzo said the students in this year's eighth grade class have been together since kindergarten and they are a true living testament to what inclusion can do.
F.I.R.E. co-founder Maura Nulton acknowledged that it hasn't all been smooth sailing for the boys, their families and the other students. "There have been hurdles, both health-wise and logistically," she said. "But we've gotten over them. I'm so proud of the kids, their families and all who have embraced F.I.R.E. I am amazed at how big these kids are and how much they have contributed to their schools and their families. They have thrived."
Crawford credits the boys' families for much of their success at St. Peter's.
"These kids are successful because of where they came from," she said. "They've made my job fun. It's a bitter sweet pill to see Nicholas and Austin graduate on May 19. I know I'll cry but I'm going to be there. As Austin would say, there'll be both happy tears and sad tears."
Visitation School's 2007 graduation ceremonies are planned for May 17 and, in anticipation of the big day, the eighth graders spent a recent morning choosing the readings for the Mass.
Parker Levi sat close to friend Megan Schrader, head bent over the readings choices, wielding a pencil to mark his selections.
Parker, who has attended Visitation since kindergarten, said he really liked Isaiah 55:10-11, which describes the rain making the earth fruitful. To him, the reading meant overcoming the challenges of becoming a positive member of society, he said.
Parker likes to overcome challenges. Over the years, he has become a very visible member of the school community, said Jenny Courville, Parker's "F.I.R.E. teacher."
He has learned how to deal with the different expectations of different teachers, she said. He strives for perfection in his school work and has become passionate about the environment and recycling.
Parker started collecting aluminum pop tabs when he was in third grade. He collects them in jars, plastic tubs and "a Lego's bucket this high," and then recycles them, turning the proceeds over to Children's Mercy Hospital and Ronald McDonald House.
He has placed Ronald McDonald House collection boxes around Visitation, and friends plan to take some to Rockhurst and Notre Dame de Sion high schools and St. Teresa's Academy to continue Parker's efforts.
Parker is happy to be Parker. He said he feels special both at home and at school, and will miss Visitation, although he looks forward to attending O'Hara High School with Nicholas and Austin.
"It'll be a challenge," Parker said.
Megan, who has been friends with Parker since kindergarten, said their friendship has given her "the satisfaction of learning that someone with disabilities can go to a school like Visitation and be treated normally. Parker is one of the greatest friends I'll ever meet."
Courville agreed, saying, "Everybody loves Parker."
Crawford and Courville both said that they will continue to work with special needs children enrolled at St. Peter and Visitation, along with children with learning disabilities, behavior challenges or who need just a little extra help. A new F.I.R.E. student plans to start kindergarten at St. Peter School in the 2008-2009 academic year.
The other schools where special needs children are enrolled include St. Elizabeth, St. Ann in Independence, St. John LaLande in Blue Springs, St. Therese in Parkville, and Archbishop O'Hara High School.
There are several ways to give to F.I.R.E. go to www.fire-program.org for further information.
END
There was a will, then a way
Eighth-grade graduation is a milestone for Catholic schools using a fund
for students with disabilities.
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By Joe Robertson
The Kansas City Star
May 22, 2007
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As paraprofessional Jeanne Crawford helped Nicholas Costanzo (left) and
Austin Dearth with class work at St. Peter School, Dearth gave her a hug.
Parker Levi needed protection, didn’t he?
Jenny Courville remembered her apprehension in her first year as a teacher at Visitation School, charged with a mission that had once been beyond the resources of Catholic schools — educating children with disabilities.
After all, Parker, then a 10-year-old fifth-grader, startled easily. He was born with agenesis of the corpus callosum, which meant he had a broken connection between the hemispheres of his brain.
It slowed his reactions and his understanding of the world. And there he was, wading out with his books into the hallway where Courville saw a blur of children in the school at 5134 Baltimore Ave.
“I wondered, ‘Should I shield him … ?’ ”
Today Parker is one of three students who, over the weekend, became the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese’s first eighth-graders with disabilities to graduate in their parish schools.
Parker needed no shielding.
Nor did St. Peter School graduate Nicholas Costanzo, who has Down syndrome. Nor did his St. Peter schoolmate, Austin Dearth, who has Lowe syndrome.
What Courville witnessed was more than just a whole school of students caring for someone different from them, more than just accepting. They loved and understood one another.
“The kids were seeing how much they’re alike,” Courville said.
The rewards of bringing students like Parker into the Catholic schools have far exceeded what several pioneering parents hoped for when they gathered to talk with church leadership a decade ago.
Several of those parents had children — toddlers and babies then — in the same developmental program for children with physical and cognitive delays. The parents had grown up in Catholic schools.
But their schools, like most religious schools, couldn’t teach such high-needs children because they couldn’t draw on the money available to public schools.
“We planned and we dreamed,” said Austin’s mother, Patti Dearth. “And we found a willing ear.”
They created the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education. Over the years, volunteers and financial support mounted and the foundation has raised more than $1.3 million, making it possible for diocese schools to take 20 students with disabilities.
The schools have embraced the program, said Nan Bone, principal of St. Peter, 6400 Charlotte St., which has nine students using the foundation funds. But for the coming year, for the first time, Bone said she had to start a waiting list, “and that was hard.”
When Austin first embarked on his education as a kindergartner nine years ago, Patti Dearth said, all she dared to hope was that he’d grow emotionally and spiritually.
Instead he graduated as a reader and a writer with friendships, all beyond her hopes.
In the seventh grade, when Austin had to miss school for one of his many surgeries, his friends surprised him with a street party outside his front door. They hung colored streamers from tree limbs. Special education teacher Molly Euston put down the top on her convertible and cranked up the dance music.
The whole graduating class, Patti Dearth said, “has shown us what a good, good group of kids they are.”
Next year, the three foundation program graduates will continue at Archbishop O’Hara High School, the only Catholic high school in the area that has the program for high-needs students through the 12th grade. Many of their classmates will go to other Catholic high schools.
“Yeah, I’m thinking I’m going to miss them,” Austin said.
He and Nicholas had retreated to their classroom where they spent part of their days getting one-on-one instruction from Euston and paraprofessional Jeanne Crawford.
Austin, who sings in the choir, was sharing memories with Nicholas, who played on St. Peter’s basketball team.
One of the several photographs hung on Nicholas’ desk showed him in his basketball uniform, surrounded by several girls from his class.
“My girls,” Nicholas said, laughing.
The eighth-graders gathered for a retreat recently to reflect on their elementary school years. The St. Peter students realized that day how close they all had become, said classmates Frances Buren and Jack Caywood, both 14.
At one point, all the girls were crying, Frances said. And some of the boys, added Jack.
“And Nicholas came to me and he was crying and gave me this hug,” Frances said. “And Austin came over, saying, ‘It’s OK.’ We were all so close to each other. They helped teach us patience … and how to love.”
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On the Web
www.fire-program.org
To reach Joe Robertson, call 816-234-4789 or send e-mail to jrobertson@kcstar.com.
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