State DOE commissioner sees inclusion in action "Welcome to the BPLC, a school for all children based not on the idea that they are the same but that they are different." - sign in the main hallway at the Brick Primary Learning Center BY PATRICIA A. MILLER Staff Writer CHRIS KELLY staff State Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy chats with Brett Novick, Brick's Teacher of the Year and Assistant Principal Kathy DiGrigoli, during a tour of the Brick Primary Learning Center on May 18. BRICK TOWNSHIP - - State Commissioner of Education Lucille Davy took her time during a visit to the school district's Primary Learning Center on Chambers Bridge Road recently. Davy toured classroom after classroom and stopped to chat with both teachers and students during a visit that lasted more than an hour here Friday. She came to see why the Brick school district was recently awarded a $500,000 grant, part of the Governor's Initiative: Enhancing and Expanding In-district Options for Students With Disabilities program. The district was one of 28 districts throughout the state to receive funds from a $9 million state Department of Education pot and only one of five districts to receive the maximum award of $500,000. Davy noted that 186 school districts had applied for the grants. "It was highly competitive," Davy told the school officials who assembled for her visit. "You must be doing something quite well. There are obviously wonderful things going on here. I'm sure you'll use this grant to enhance what you are already doing." Kindergartners Vaughan Ortner and Sophia Mastroserio presented Davy with a bouquet of roses and a Brick PLC T-shirt before she began her tour. "When I wear it, I'll think of my visit here," she told the children. "These little ones are fortunate to have so many caring adults." "It's always an honor when the commissioner comes to your school district," schools Superintendent Thomas L. Seidenberger said before Davy began her tour. "She wants to see what this district is all about. We are happy that she's here." Seidenberger credited Allen A. Ferraro, the district's director of special services, with helping to obtain the grant. "He's been a godsend to this district," he said. "He has the kids' interests at heart." Ferraro said during the tour that he was thrilled when he learned the district had been awarded the grant. "I was speechless," he said. "It'll give us a really good start." Brick will use the funds to train elementary education teachers in how to deal with children with special needs in regular classroom settings. The goal is to move special education and disabled students into regular classrooms and bring as many students who receive out-of-district services back to their home district, Ferraro said. The district has roughly 2,100 students who are classified as needing special services, Ferraro said. "That's everything from autism to mild learning disabilities," he said. The district has already advertised for a project manager and trainer to get the inclusion program started in the fall, Ferraro said. The primary learning center services over 100 special education students each day. "We want the children to feel they are a part of the whole school," Sheiman said after Davy's visit. "If the children are in a special education class and they are doing well...then why not bring them for academic or social skills in a regular education class?" Sheiman said she thought Davy's visit went well. "It's a wonderful school," she said. "My staff did a great job. Why not show off the excellent education we give our students? I think she thoroughly enjoyed herself. She was very interested in everything going on in every class. She took the time to really learn about our school." The state grant program was established to assist school districts to develop and implement programs that will help educate students with disabilities locally in a general education setting.