Grant to Tustin Group Seeks to Mainstream Disabled Students

The Tustin Public Schools Foundation has received a $13,000 grant from a Michigan foundation that will be used to train teachers on methods of including disabled students in the classroom.

Linda Jennings, the foundations’s executive director, said Tuesday that two teachers from each of the Tustin Unified School District’s 10 elementary schools will be chosen and trained in mainstreaming programs.

Students attending special education classes are “mainstreamed” by allowing them to attend regular classes, Jennings said. There are four such students in three Tustin elementary schools, she said.

Educators believe that disabled students can perform well in regular classrooms and the other students learn to deal with disability at an early age.

The trained teachers will go back to their schools and train other teachers, Jennings said. They also will meet with parents of both disabled and other students to explain the effects of having disabled students in regular classrooms, she said.

Every school with mainstreamed students will form a group to help parents deal with the problems, and advise other parents who are considering placing their disabled child in the regular classroom, she said.

Jennings said that a task force made up of teachers, administrators and parents will help carry out the districtwide program. Chris Davidson, the school district’s special education director, and Liz Wiggin, the program manager, will direct the group’s activities.

The Tustin Public Schools Foundation solicits donations from the community, local businesses, corporations and private foundations, for special programs to benefit students in the district.