For the last ten years, Jennifer Contreras has been searching for a Christian school in which to enroll her son, Antonio. Over and over, she was told that someone else would be better able to educate Antonio due to his developmental delays. But, as Alma Heights Christian School's head of school David Gross explains, “Elsewhere doesn’t exist.”

Jennifer recalls contacting twenty-three Christian schools within a 45-minute drive of her home in Pacifica, California. Most often, the school leaders she spoke with couldn’t envision how to serve Antonio and encouraged her to look elsewhere. “I was shocked, I cried in the car after those meetings,” she recalls. “How could every child not deserve a Christian education?”

That question came to influence other areas of Jennifer’s life.

In 2012, as part of her research for a doctoral dissertation on Christian education and students with learning disabilities, Jennifer learned about All Belong and scheduled a visit. After spending some time at All Belong partner schools, Jennifer recalls thinking,

At the time, Antonio was enrolled in the local public school for his first year of high school. “Antonio started categorizing himself as a ‛special ed kid’ and identified himself apart from ‛general ed kids.’ I could see that the segregated environment wasn’t good for his self esteem and with his growth in learning how to integrate with the general community,” she remembers.

Antonio also began attending Coastside Church, which meets on the campus of Alma Heights Christian School (AHC) (Pacifica, CA), and making friends through the youth group. Jennifer was struggling with trying to find a new church home after seeing Antonio excluded elsewhere, but eventually she attended an event with Antonio. There she met David Gross, head of school at Alma Heights Christian.

David was convinced that Antonio belonged at his school. “I did not have a strategy in place for educating Antonio, but I was convinced that this was the right place for him.” he says.

“We had been making progress toward a more mature and inclusive educational philosophy for several years, and Jennifer told me that she could provide the expertise through All Belong.”

Jennifer and David quickly came up with a plan, and Jennifer committed to fund the plan herself “with dollars I didn’t have!” she exclaims. “But the train had left the station. We were just trying to catch up.” Jennifer contacted her employer and learned they would match her gift to AHC, up to $50,000. The plan calls for launching the first year as a pilot, and adding resource staff as more students enroll.

Antonio started attending AHC this fall as a 10th grade student. In the first weeks of school, he has already made strides. Antonio shares, “I like AHC because I can go to school with my friends from church.” But, the positive effects extend beyond that: Antonio’s verbal and math skills have significantly improved.

“We think that because he is around typically abled kids, he is able to model his speech after them,” shares Jennifer.

Teacher consultants Greg Yoder and Barbara Newman provided initial training and support to AHC; All Belong will continue to assist the school as they include Antonio and other learners.

No one objected to the idea of enrolling Antonio, but there were many questions around how it would work. All Belong consultants Greg Yoder and Barbara Newman made an early visit to the school in August to meet and train teachers, and to witness the first day of school. Greg reflected,

In addition to partnering with All Belong, AHC hired Antonio’s former tutor to provide part-time support.

“Word was barely out that we were working with All Belong and doing this, and we had another student (in addition to Antonio) enroll yesterday,” David shares.

Thanks to the support of many donors, All Belong is thrilled to bring our knowledge to California. David shares, “I look forward to confidently saying to other administrators, ‘See! It’s better this way.’ Then I hope that we can be a toehold for inclusive Christian education in the entire Bay area.”

This article originally appeared in the Fall 2014 Inclusive newsletter.