Mercerville students Jordan McElroy and Benjamin Cole during the Light It Up Blue assembly. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Mercerville Elementary School is the only Hamilton Township school to have K-5 inclusion classrooms. As part of that culture, the school hosted a Light It Up Blue autism awareness assembly April 2, 2015. Pictured is principal Jack Byrne. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Student Angelina Fantauzzo reading her essay during the assembly. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Staff and students at Mercerville Elementary School form the shape of a lightbulb for Light It Up Blue Day outside the school April 2, 2015. Light It Up Blue is the traditional kickoff to Autism Awareness Month. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Mercerville third grader Cole Bigger spraypainted the top of his hair blue for Light It Up Blue April 2, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
By Meagan Douches
At first glance, Mercerville appears to be like any other elementary school. Classroom doors are decorated, children’s art projects line the halls and cubbies are filled with brightly colored backpacks.
Yet, upon further observation, Mercerville Elementary School has something no other school in Hamilton has—it’s home to the school district’s only Kindergarten through 5th grade inclusion classrooms.
These types of classes integrate general education children with classified students, including those with autism and learning disabilities. By integrating these different styles of learners, the inclusion system aims to promote understanding and acceptance.
Jack Byrne has been the principal of Mercerville Elementary for the last two years, and has enjoyed the community feel the small school size and the inclusion classrooms have fostered.
Mercerville hosts various events and programs throughout the year to promote an inclusive and understanding environment for its students. For example, in honor of Autism Awareness Day, Mercerville held a school-wide assembly April 2 to encourage students to embrace their differences and unique talents.
Staff and students dressed in blue, sang the “Light It Up Blue” theme song and filled a lightbulb-shaped space for a group photo. MES was the only school in the township to celebrate “Light It Up Blue,” and the gathering also featured student essays and drawings on what makes them special.
“The school is a big loving family,” said one student at the assembly.
And that’s part of the idea for inclusion classrooms. The premise for inclusion is to involve the children that need the individualized education programs to be in the least restrictive environment, Byrne said.
“So to do that, the best way is to put them in the class with general ed students,” he said.
Of the 17 elementary schools in Hamilton, Mercerville is the only one that has an inclusion classroom in each grade. The school has been using an inclusion program as well as a character education program for as long as anyone can remember. Students from all over Hamilton come to Mercerville for the inclusive classes.
“It’s good for all the kids because the kids that have the needs get that extra help, but so do the other children,” Byrne said. “It also exposes all the kids to children that might have some differences so it teaches acceptance at an early age.”
Rather than having a specific classroom for special education, classified students are taught alongside general education students by a pair of teachers. Having both teachers in the classroom allows for more individualized attention and instruction for all the students in the class, including general education students.
Third grade teachers Jennifer Blanchard and Nicole Weingard have been teaching inclusion classes together for the past three years.
“The biggest change is that you can do more and you can really individualize and cater to the students’ needs,” Blanchard said.
“[The inclusion class] is a lot of fun and it’s been my favorite class to teach,” said Weingard, a special education teacher of 12 years. “It’s beneficial to everyone. The special ed kids are included in everything and it creates a sense of community. You can see the students helping each other.”
In Mercerville’s co-teaching inclusion model, teachers use five different types of teaching in their lessons depending on what works best for them and the students. These include whole group instruction where the instructors team teach the class together, parallel teaching where one teaches a group and the other teaches a group, and lead and assist where one teacher leads the whole group and the other assists those who need extra help.
The inclusion classrooms are not meant for every student with special needs, however. A district team develops an Individual Education Plan for each classified student by determining what their needs are and how best to meet them. The IEP states what type of learning environment is best for the student: for some it’s an inclusive classroom and for others it’s a more self-contained class or resource room.
“Not all of the students that have the IEP’s or Individual Education Programs need the academic support for everything,” Byrne said. “Some of them excel in math, they’re even in the gifted math program, but they still struggle with maybe reading.”
Byrne believes that Least Restrictive Environments like inclusion classrooms are especially valuable for these students.
Since the Least Restrictive Environment program has been established at Mercerville for many years, inclusion classes are just a regular part of school-life for the students.
The school’s Kindergarten inclusion class appears no different from the typical classroom learning environment. Students gather together for story time and learn to share and respect each other. They complete activities both as a group and individually. They aren’t aware that any of their peers may have special needs or that they have a special education teacher in class.
Kindergarten teacher Megan Festa has been teaching the inclusion class along with Sandy Ryan for the past nine years.
“It’s been wonderful,” Festa said. “The program is very successful and everyone at the school has fully embraced it. It builds acceptance school wide.”
Many of the teachers and leaders of Mercerville Elementary believe that the school’s inclusion and character programs have helped create a unique sense of community and belonging.
“It really teaches students differences and to accept who they are,” said Marta Audino, director of Student Services and Programs for Hamilton Township School District. “Everyone’s needs are different and it’s just [how we’re] meeting them, teaching students that equal’s not always the same. Just because we’re in the same class doesn’t mean we need the same things to move forward.”
With the success of Mercerville’s inclusion program, the district is currently working to develop a second elementary school with co-teaching inclusion classes in each grade. The district is also studying different methods to employ in-class resources at the secondary level.
“It promotes talking about differences and bringing them out,” Audino said. “Part of being culturally competent is noticing differences and not ignoring them and recognizing our differences and celebrating our differences. I think a lot of what they do here is doing that.”
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