Luke Crawford

CRANBERRY TWP — Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School will have a new inclusive classroom program for students with intellectual disabilities and autism next school year.

The St. Anthony program will accept up to 10 students for the 2016-17 school year, although there could be room for more students later if the program is successful in its first year.

“I’m really excited to do it,” Principal Luke Crawford said. “I feel like it’s part of what it means to be Catholic, to serve students of all levels of achievement.”

Program CEO Mark Sieg said the maximum number of students allowed into the program per year is 13. He would like to see five to seven students for the first year.

“It would be a great starting point for a brand new program,” he said.

The program’s high school curriculum focuses on inclusion, social skills and vocational and life skills where students learn how to take care of themselves, find a job and do daily tasks.

Subjects taught would depend on the individual student.

Students would learn in a classroom or in a hands-on training setting with their peers and in a one-on-one setting. Crawford said the school building has an extra wing available for the program.

Special education teachers, job coaches and paraprofessional aides will work with each student.

Students in the program and graduating from high school can enroll at St. Anthony’s post-secondary program at Duquesne University.

Crawford said the program, which helps students learn how to interact with others from different backgrounds, is at two other schools, Bishop Canevin Catholic High School in Pittsburgh and Serra Catholic High School in McKeesport.

“We’ve had filled enrollment for the most part,” Sieg said. “Both programs have been very stable.”

Crawford and Sieg said there always has been a desire by Cardinal Wuerl to have a relationship with the St. Anthony program.

“As a Catholic school, we really celebrate the dignity of all people,” Crawford said. “We don’t want Catholic schools to simply be identified as only for the top academic student or a certain economic background. It’s an inclusive environment.”

Lucy Negron, Cardinal Wuerl’s intervention specialist, worked for the St. Anthony program for two years from 2013 to 2015.

She said the program is “extremely successful.”

“Our parents, students and teachers have all been very satisfied with the program,” Negron said. “We’ve helped a lot of kids who typically would not be able to stay with the rigor of our school succeed.”