With a unified gym, leadership opportunities for all abilities and schoolwide accessible experiences that don’t leave students out, Glen Burnie High School, Arundel High School and Old Mill Middle School South are making sure students feel like they belong.
These schools are the latest to be named Special Olympics Unified Champion National Banner schools by Special Olympics North America, bringing Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ (AACPS) total number of schools with the honor to 12 out of the 19 in Maryland.
Expansion of accessible spaces and programs
The school district is already known for its inclusive programming. It offers three Unified Sports programs throughout the year — tennis in the fall, bowling in the winter and bocce in the spring. These are meant to give students with disabilities the opportunity to train and compete in sports alongside their abled peers.
AACPS added Unified P.E. and dance programs during the 2018-2019 school year and has seen considerable success since their launch. As many common school sports are not accessible to students with disabilities, these unified sports offer accommodations to ensure that all student athletes have the opportunity to form friendships and develop positive skills associated with school sports.
Glen Burnie High School in particular was recognized for its unified gym, which includes accommodations like a different size and compression for tennis balls; differently-sized tennis court boundaries; ADA-compliant ramp accessibility to playing surfaces, entrances, exits and bathrooms; a ramp- and wheelchair-accessible bocce court and visual and audio aids for bocce.
The school’s Unified P.E. program includes activities such as mini golf, yoga, bowling and volleyball.
Inclusive leadership opportunities
While inclusion is often promoted in schools, leadership opportunities for students with disabilities among peers of all abilities are not always provided — and are something that the Special Olympics Unified Banner National Champion program looks for in choosing its honorees, according to an AACPS news release.
Beyond just having unified programs, Glen Burnie High School showed a commitment to leadership. Students of all abilities at the school have the opportunity to become team captain if they complete leadership training. There are four to six captains per season — with a 50-50 ratio of unified partners vs. athletes with disabilities.
The school district also has unified programs focused on arts and music. Its Unified Dance program (as well as its P.E.) also has a focus on leadership.
Peer to peer
Another big factor in the Special Olympics national champion program is whole-school engagement and opportunities to build relationships both one-on-one and across the student body between students with and without disabilities.
Glen Burnie High’s unified teams are coed and made up of an approximately equal number of students with and without disabilities, with students in Alternate Curriculum Classes automatically enrolled in unified programs so they’re able to take a high school class with their general education peers, and all unified sports athletes qualify as varsity athletes.
“Our Unified Partners enter UPE or Unified Sports with a variety of background knowledge and skills ranging from hardly ever interacting with their peers that live with disabilities, to living with a loved one that lives with a disability,” explains Marissa Neumann, a physical education and health teacher at Glen Burnie High School who coaches its Unified Sports teams. “Either way, each Unified Partner and [athlete with a disability] learn skills to build meaningful relationships with their peers.”
Some examples include:
• learning and speaking in first-person language
• communicating in the way that is most appropriate for the individual such as using assistive technology
• setting boundaries of comfortability level such as with hugs and personal space
• understanding and respecting differences like stimming
Old Mill Middle School South takes inclusivity a step further by making all of its classes and clubs unified — any student, regardless of grade or ability, can participate in any elective, club or school event they want and receive the proper accommodations to do so if necessary. It’s also notable for being the first middle school in Maryland to receive the Unified Champion school title.
“In our programs, each of our students become the best versions of themselves because they are seen and appreciated for who they are, at any ability and intellectual level. Furthermore, they are encouraged to explore and push themselves to grow and succeed at their highest potential,” Neumann says.
