Three more high schools in the Diocese of Columbus announced that they will accept the Jon Peterson Special Needs (JPSN) Scholarship beginning in the 2023-24 academic year.
Columbus Bishop Hartley and Bishop Ready high schools and Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School will be among the schools in the diocese accepting the JPSN Scholarship for eligible students.
The scholarship is an educational choice program that gives parents of children with disabilities the choice to send their child to special education programs other than the one operated by their school district of residence, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
“There are so many services for younger kids, but they still need them as they grow, maybe not as significantly, but we can help them – from kindergarten through 12th grade – provide that continuum of services,” said Theresa Vivona, associate director for advancement in the diocese’s Office of Catholic Schools.
“And so, that’s what’s exciting about having three more high schools signing up for this – then we truly will be covering our students from K through 12.”
The money provided by the state of Ohio helps to cover the cost of services outlined in the child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP). The yearly amount ranges from $7,976 to $27,000. The child must be enrolled in the scholarship program for the entire school year to receive the full scholarship amount, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
An IEP is a document written by the public school district that outlines a specialized education program for a child with a disability. The document includes the special needs services that will be provided and annual goals for the child to accomplish. A child must first be evaluated by their district to determine if they are eligible to receive special education services in school.
If a district determines that a child is eligible for special education services, the district works with the child’s parent and general education teachers to write the document. The parent must meet yearly with their child’s general education teachers and a district representative for an Annual IEP Review to assess the child’s progress, and, if needed, revise the document.
By qualifying for the JPSN Scholarship, children with disabilities can choose to receive the services outlined in their IEP at a special education program other than the one operated by their public school district of residence, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
For the 2022-23 academic year, 50% of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Columbus accepted the JPSN Scholarship. Funding from the state of Ohio enables the school to provide services to students with special needs. Beginning in August, 18 diocesan elementary schools and nine high schools will accept the JPSN Scholarship and provide services.
“Our (Catholic) schools aren’t required to provide special needs services, but this is an option for us to help bridge that gap to serve more of our students and help reach as many students who want a Catholic education as possible,” said Alison Metzger, associate director for government affairs in the Diocese of Columbus.
“Twenty-six of our schools this past year provided services to students with special needs, and there’s several different categories.”
Categories for special needs range from a speech or language impairment to autism, a traumatic brain injury or hearing and vision impairment. The amount of scholarship dollars awarded is determined by the category of the disability.
For category 1 (speech or language impairment), the money can only be used to pay for special services included in the IEP and not for tuition. For other categories, the money can be used for tuition in addition to the cost of services.
“Services include intervention specialists, … occupational therapy, physical therapy, sometimes vision, speech,” Metzger said. “Those are all different options depending on what the school can provide. It’s all very school driven. So, (services) all will vary based on what (the school) can accommodate and what will reach the (greatest number) of students.”
Children from kindergarten to age 22 (if graduation requirements have not been met) can apply for the scholarship year-round. They must first be evaluated by their public school district and qualify for special education.
“This program is really intended to help provide services to students with disabilities in private schools, given that the school is a qualified provider, has filled out an application and is approved by the Department of Education,” Metzger said.
To apply for the scholarship, parents must select a school that accepts the JPSN Scholarship. The school will submit an application for the scholarship on behalf of the student.
Applying for the scholarship occurs on a yearly basis. If the student continues to be eligible for special education and related services and has an IEP, the parent can submit a renewal application for the next year, according to the Ohio Department of Education.
A complete listing of Catholic schools that accept the JPSN Scholarship is available on the diocese’s Office of Catholic Schools website, https://education.columbuscatholic.org/affordability.
The Office of Catholic Schools has seen growth in the number of students using JPSN services. During the past five years, the number of students on the scholarship has grown 38%, said Seth Burkholder, associate director for data analysis and finance.
Columbus Bishop Watterson and St. Francis DeSales are two diocesan Catholic high schools that currently accept the JPSN Scholarship. Between those two schools, 5% to 7% of their enrollment are Jon Peterson students, Burkholder said.
The number of JPSN students in Catholic schools has exceeded prepandemic levels.
During the 2018-19 school year, the JPSN Scholarship offered services to more than 400 students. There are now almost 600 students in the diocese receiving the scholarship.
Of diocesan schools, Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare, Gahanna St. Matthew, Hilliard St. Brendan and Reynoldsburg St. Pius X have the greatest number of students using JPSN services, Burkholder said.
Outside of Franklin County, Zanesville Bishop Fenwick and Bishop Rosecrans High School and Portsmouth Notre Dame Elementary and High School have the greatest number of JPSN students.
Currently, 13 diocesan schools also have a program known as Special Needs in Catholic Education (SPICE). The program raises awareness and money for additional services in Catholic schools for typical, developmental and accelerated learners.
“They use it to help supplement additional services for intervention for maybe kids who don’t have an IEP and aren’t on Jon Peterson but have special needs,” Metzger said. “They’re helping provide actual services in the schools.”
Diocesan schools that have a SPICE program include Columbus St. Andrew, St. Catharine, St. Cecilia and St. Timothy; Delaware St. Mary; Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare; Gahanna St. Matthew; and Hilliard St. Brendan.
“It really is a parish organization of parents who are passionate about special education, specifically, and really want to help support the school as well,” Metzger said.
St. Andrew’s SPICE program benefits children such as Brenda Lombardi’s son, Peter, 17, who was enrolled there. Lombardi said St. Andrew’s SPICE program helped to raise money for special needs services, which Peter, who has Down syndrome, needed in school.
When the JPSN Scholarship was introduced in 2013, Peter was in first grade at St. Andrew, and he qualified. Because of the JPSN Scholarship, Peter attended St. Andrew through eighth grade.
By having students on the JPSN Scholarship, the school could use the money it received from the state to create an intervention department and provide more special needs services to students. For Peter, the state funding helped cover the cost of a one-on-one aide.
Lombardi said her son formed a “beautiful” relationship with his aide, and the scholarship “opens up so many opportunities for students to attend Catholic school. It just so makes sense that our Catholic schools serve children who have special needs because that is the Gospel. Jesus came to seek the lost, and sometimes our children with special needs are the lost.
“The fact that Catholic schools now have this funding to offer the support, the resources, the therapy and the teachers to allow these students to thrive as Peter did, it’s an answered prayer.”
Lombardi’s three older sons attended St. Andrew before Peter, and she said it was “a blessing that Peter was able to go through Catholic schools just like his brothers from preschool to eighth grade at St. Andrew’s.
“This scholarship has allowed so many more students to be served with their special needs based on the parents who have a desire to send their students to Catholic school because, otherwise, they would have to be put in the public school system, which isn’t always a good fit for students.
“Catholic schools are smaller. The values from a public-school perspective are unsurpassed as far as when you raise your children Catholic with the Christian values and living out the Gospel, you want them to be surrounded by families and children who also have that vision for the school.”
Peter participated in school activities and had the same experience at St. Andrew as his peers. Lombardi said Peter received his First Holy Communion, the sacrament of confirmation and went on field trips with his classmates, which was made possible by the support of his aide and largely funded by the JPSN Scholarship.
“It really is a testament to our schools not just teaching about the Gospel, but actually taking action to live out the Gospel by their deeds and their actions,” Lombardi said. “It is a great example of what our Catholic faith is all about.”
The scholarship is closing the gap between public and private schools, she said, and students on the scholarship can, together, create an intervention department in their Catholic school with the state funding.
“It really has to do with the leadership in school,” Lombardi said. “They need to have the vision and be able to develop an intervention program utilizing the Jon Peterson. It is a whole different department, but it takes leadership, boldness, risk-taking and a lot of courage.”
Bishop Hartley, Bishop Ready and St. Charles have shown that they are up for the challenge. The schools are preparing to accept the scholarship beginning in August.
Will Gruber, director of admissions at St. Charles, said it is an exciting time for the school. By accepting the JPSN Scholarship, “students can now come here with an IEP and get the services that they need and deserve.”
St. Charles currently has one intervention specialist. By providing the scholarship to eligible students, state funding will allow the school to have two intervention specialists, a speech therapist and an occupational therapist next school year.
“It’s important because I think any boy in central Ohio that wants an all-boys Catholic education should be able to have it, and so, we need to meet students where they are and help them progress,” Gruber said.
“And if we aren’t doing that, we aren’t serving every boy that we could at St. Charles. We want boys that want to be here – even if they learn differently – to have that opportunity.”
The school has a Learning Formation Center open to all students. The new intervention staff will work out of the center.
Students on the JPSN Scholarship will work one-on-one with the intervention team during the school day during their 45-minute study hall period and 30-minute enrichment period, as well as before and after school hours.
St. Charles serves 500 students, and Gruber said approximately 130 students go to the Learning Formation Center throughout the school day. Five or six staff members work with students in the center daily.
“What’s nice is, these students with IEPs will not be different from anybody else,” he said. “Everyone is seeking help and tutoring. So, the structure is, they would still go to that same learning formation space. They would go off into these individualized tutor rooms to work with the intervention team members.”
St. Charles has a culture of supporting students, Gruber said, and the support offered in the school’s Learning Formation Center has been a blessing to all students. By having an intervention team in the center, students with IEPs will receive individualized support.
“It’s an exciting time here,” he said. “We’re expanding our intervention program. We’re doing a lot of construction that will also help support those efforts. … All these things mean nothing unless you have students walking your halls, filling your building, so to me, it’s an exciting time to open our doors to more people at St. Charles.”
Bishop Ready will also expand its intervention program by accepting the JPSN Scholarship. The school has one full-time intervention specialist and will hire an additional intervention specialist for the 2023-24 academic year.
“To be able to add another full-time intervention specialist will expand our portfolio of things that we’re able to offer our families and our students,” Ready principal Matt Brickner said.
The school also has a reading tutor, a math tutor and a student mentor. Brickner said by adding an intervention specialist, students will receive more one-on-one attention.
Ready will have a dedicated space for intervention. Students on the JPSN Scholarship will meet daily with their assigned intervention specialist there.
The school will provide services including one-on-one tutoring, remediation (which assists students in meeting expectations in the classroom), small-group testing and working in small-group settings. The intervention specialists will also supplement classroom instruction, Brickner said.
“I think the growth and development of the program is going to really help the school and help the students and the families find success in the classroom,” he said.
Brickner said serving the needs of students and their families is at the core of what Ready does. Offering the JPSN Scholarship will allow Ready to continue meeting those needs.
“I think it’s always important to be looking at how you can help serve your families and meet their needs, whether it’s academically or socially or spiritually,” he said. “We want to do our best to meet the students where they’re at and help move them along.
“And so, I think being able to (accept the scholarship) offers an opportunity for families … to be able to have the Catholic education and get the services and support that their student needs in the classroom.
“The school is offering not just academic support, but also social and emotional and spiritual support to the students that are here.”
Bishop Hartley is also looking forward to accepting the JPSN Scholarship. The high school will have three intervention specialists beginning in August.
“With the scholarship funding, we are actually able to double our (number) of staff that we have for students who have a disability,” said Cara Rezabek, director of educational services at Hartley. “So, we will increase our number of intervention specialists, which will allow us to provide so much more for each student.
“It allows us to provide more minutes for students to work on their intervention IEP goals, and it allows us to provide co-teaching instruction inside the classroom when the students need it, small-group sessions (and) specially designed instruction outside of the classroom, if they need some information re-taught.
“It allows for more specially designed testing rooms for each kid. So, it’s expanding a lot of different services that we can provide.”
Hartley created the Notre Dame program, which offers tutoring services to students. Services provided by the school with state funding from the JPSN Scholarship will fall under the Notre Dame program.
Students on the scholarship will attend a daily study hall with an intervention specialist, Rezabek said. This time will include IEP goal work, and testing accommodations will also be provided in a special testing center.
Students receiving services can expect to see their intervention specialist in a “general-ed setting ,” which means intervention specialists will be present in students’ general-education classes. More course options will be available to special needs students, Rezabek said, because an intervention specialist will be in the classroom and can offer increased support.
Fewer course options were available to students previously because there was not an intervention specialist in the classroom to support students, Rezabek said. This will change with the introduction of the JPSN Scholarship, which she said she expects will benefit all Hartley students.
“I think having a special ed program in any school makes that school a better, more holistic building,” she said. “I have watched that happen with our Notre Dame program and how having the students go into the classroom, how that changes the dynamic of the teaching and makes it, overall, better.
“I think by expanding all these different services, we’re setting all kids in our building up for better success. They’re able to interact with a diverse population of learners and learn how to interact in small-group settings and projects.
“By expanding, I think it makes our teachers better because they are learning new skills, and we’ll be able to provide more professional development for them from all these intervention specialists that will be coming into the building.”
Eventually, Rezabek said, Hartley would like to provide outside services for students who are struggling socially with autism. The school also hopes to provide “executive functioning and social emotional services.” Executive functioning services help children with completing and staying focused on tasks, time management and organizational skills.
For now, Hartley looks forward to expanding its services to students with IEPs.
“I don’t think a kid should have to choose between receiving special ed services or Catholic school,” Rezabek said. “I think it’s very important that they should have both.
“And so, I’m very proud that Hartley is choosing to continue to do that – to open more and more doors to more and more students who want to attend a Catholic school.”
