When Shawn and Annie Narayan’s twins, Johnny and Gemma, were accepted into transitional kindergarten at St. John the Evangelist School in Carmichael, it was a dream come true.
Both Narayan children were diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
“We live less than one mile from St. John the Evangelist and we had always hoped that our children would attend the school as many of the kids in our neighborhood do,” says Annie. “We had a challenge finding the right preschool for our son, feeling hopeless about what educational opportunities would be available to them. We knew we wanted them in a Catholic school. When you get an autism diagnosis, you just never know what the future holds.
“We found out that St. John the Evangelist had an inclusion program for students with disabilities, and we couldn’t believe it. We met with (former) principal Christie Horton, who assured us that our family was welcome and encouraged us to apply. Not only were we ‘allowed’ to attend, but we felt like they wanted our family to be there. Today, our kids are thriving in kindergarten.
“What we believe as parents and as Catholics, is that all children are children of God. All children deserve to have access to the same quality of education,” Annie says. “Every family should be able to send their child to their local parish school.”
The inclusion of students with disabilities is often a challenge for Catholic schools. Most students with disabilities need extra support, which can imply extra costs in the form of instructional assistants, adaptive technology, different curricula, costly evaluations and resources for specific accommodations. In public schools, much of this is supported by government funds. For Catholic schools, it becomes both a financial and personnel challenge.
“Families raising children with disabilities face limited educational choices,” says Katie Perata, executive director of schools for the Diocese of Sacramento, in a recent letter to Catholic school parents. “While public school programs offer support, they do not provide the spiritual foundation children need to grow in faith and deepen their relationship with God. Many of our Catholic schools, though rich in spirit and dedication, have historically lacked the specialized resources necessary to serve students with individualized learning needs, leaving parents with the difficult reality that a Catholic school education may be out of reach for their child.”
Since January 2025, when the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (FIRE) of Sacramento was launched (see story, page 22), that reality is changing. Annie, one of its founders and vice president of its board, joined other parents of children with disabilities in the diocese to champion the inclusion of students with disabilities in Catholic schools by providing educational resources, teacher training, fundraising, and promoting a culture of belonging. “Our experience should be the norm,” Annie says. “This is why Shawn and I are committed to the FIRE Foundation.”
Both Johnny and Gemma have Advanced Behavioral Analysis aides in the classroom with them, provided through their private health insurance coverage. “St. John the Evangelist has a long history of allowing children to attend school with their aides,” Annie notes. “I feel very passionate about helping parents work with their insurance companies to provide the same opportunities. Additionally, one of our goals is to normalize disabilities on campus, so that families with children with disabilities feel supported in a culture of inclusion. It’s equally important for neurotypical children to attend school with neurodivergent children.”
‘This mission has become a much larger calling’
When Annie heard from Christie in mid-2024 that a FIRE Foundation affiliate was forming in the diocese, she reached out to Jennifer Sinner, a parent from St. Joseph School in Auburn, who was spearheading the effort.
Jennifer, board president and founder of the FIRE Foundation, and her husband, Matthew, have been involved in expanding opportunities for children with disabilities to attend Catholic schools since their daughter Avery, 11, now in sixth grade at St. Joseph, was enrolled in an inclusion program for children with ASD at the former Holy Family School in Citrus Heights in 2017 before the school closed in 2019. They also have a son Grant, 7, a second grader at St. Joseph School.
Avery was diagnosed with ASD at 23 months old and it has significantly affected her day-to-day life, including her ability to participate in the classroom without additional support and accommodations. Since Avery began kindergarten at St. Joseph School, she’s had a one-on-one behavior therapist in the classroom with her, provided through private health insurance, and she also attends privately-funded speech therapy once a week after school.
“We saw firsthand the benefits of Avery being included as a full member of our Catholic school community,” Jennifer reflects. “However, it became increasingly difficult for us to provide the extra support she needed, and so we started looking into ways to give our school access to additional resources.”
As a result of the Sinners’ experiences, Jennifer met with diocesan Catholic Schools Department leaders, Katie Perata and Tosha Tillotson, associate superintendent, in 2024 to discuss how to increase resources for children with disabilities in Catholic schools. Jennifer received the blessing from diocesan leadership to move forward with the process of affiliating with the established FIRE Foundation in Kansas City, and then worked to launch the FIRE Foundation of Sacramento.
Jennifer, a 2000 graduate of Holy Family School in Citrus Heights, a 2004 graduate of St. Francis High School in Sacramento and a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, worked as a certified public accountant until Avery’s diagnosis. She has devoted the past several years to volunteering at St. Joseph School and focusing on getting FIRE Sacramento off the ground.
“One of my initial motivations for starting FIRE Sacramento was for Avery and Grant to go to school together,” Jennifer reflects. “However, this mission has become a much larger calling for me. When Tosha informed school principals in May 2024 that we were forming as a FIRE affiliate, we received more than 100 emails back from interested parents, teachers and principals, and then held a general interest meeting in August 2024. From then on we focused the rest of 2024 on getting our board together and applying to become an affiliate.”
FIRE Sacramento “stemmed originally from a personal need, but also we knew many families who desired Catholic education for their kids,” Jennifer says. “Our goal is to be able to provide grants to partner schools in our diocese that have said yes to admitting children with disabilities. This is important work and it has the ability to change lives. I pray that our community will open their hearts to our mission and the children we serve.”
Tosha, former principal of St. John the Evangelist School for three years, who has worked in Catholic education in the diocese since 1999, has been advising the parents along this journey.
“Over the years in my various roles, I saw how Catholic schools were supporting kids with autism and dyslexia, but I saw the greater need for supporting teachers and training them, and providing services at our schools,” she says. “After attending the FIRE Foundation’s annual conference in Kansas City, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to provide something similar in our diocese. Because of the response and cooperation of our principals, I can see our partnership with the FIRE Foundation and our various schools growing over time.
“With more financial support from FIRE Sacramento, our schools will have the capacity to accept more students with special needs, because the grants awarded can provide therapists, professional development and teacher training, and provide an opportunity for more parents to enroll their children with different diagnoses in Catholic schools,” she concludes.
‘We were thrown into the world of special needs’
Also serving as founders on the FIRE Foundation board, are Raquel Bedoya Means, treasurer, and Meghan Anderson, secretary, both who have played pivotal roles in advocating for more inclusion of children with disabilities in Catholic schools.
Raquel is a graduate of St. James School in Davis, the former Loretto High School in Sacramento, and Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “Catholic education is a major part of my life’s foundation and it’s responsible for who I am today,” she notes. She and her husband, Charles, have three children: Charles, 8, who was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD at age six and is in second grade at St. James School; Aelin, 3, who was born with Down syndrome; and Arthur, four months.
“When Charles was diagnosed, and again when Aelin was diagnosed with Down syndrome during pregnancy, we were thrown into the world of special needs and it was a whirlwind experience for us,” Raquel recalls.
Aelin has suffered from many medical complications, and “our whole experience with our children really opened my eyes to the reality that in the future, if we want Catholic education, we need a lot of support from teachers and staff. That’s when I started thinking about what systems we can put in place so that our children, and any child with similar disabilities, can succeed.” She notes that Charles is in speech therapy from the public school district and has supplemental therapy from a private therapist at St. James, so “we are fortunate he has all the support he needs right now.”
“I’ve come to realize that in seeing the difference between Aelin and Charles, my daughter’s condition is very visible and my son’s is more hidden. When you can’t see the disability, there tends to be more pushback on accommodations and therapy. With my daughter, it is very obvious that she will need extensive support, understanding and resources in order to succeed and that requires a lot of commitment and buy-in from our schools. We’ve learned to be fierce advocates for both of them. It’s been quite an experience for us, and we are still on the journey, but it’s nice we are forming a community through FIRE, where we as parents can support and lean on each other.”
The FIRE Foundation “is very passionate about having children with disabilities in our general Catholic school population,” Raquel concludes. “It’s not just for that child’s benefit, but for the benefit of the entire community. Our children bring light and love and joy into the world – they just need an opportunity to be included.”
Meghan and her husband, Craig, are the parents of Natalie, 10, and Brendan, 8, both students at St. Mel School in Fair Oaks. Brendan, a second grader, was diagnosed with ASD in 2019 at age two.
Meghan is a graduate of St. Catherine of Siena School in Martinez, Carondelet High School in Concord, and Ave Maria University law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “Craig and I committed to have our children receive a Catholic education,” Meghan says. “Our daughter was already at St. Mel when Brendan received his diagnosis, so for us there were a lot of big questions: Is he going to have friends, grow up and have a job? And one of the biggest questions was ‘can he attend St. Mel?’”
After attending public school through first grade, the Andersons wanted Brendan to go to St. Mel, and they met with principal Megan French, who had Brendan attend a “shadow day” at the school, where he was later accepted. “I would tell anyone that the relationship with the principal is so important,” Meghan notes. “A school’s desire to have children with special needs in the classroom begins and ends with the principal, and I will be forever grateful to Mrs. French for supporting not just our son, but recognizing the value that inclusion brings to any campus.”
Now in his second year at St. Mel School, Brendan is thriving. “It’s been an amazing journey,” Meghan says. “It’s been everything we’d hope it would be, everything we wanted in religious education, as well as tremendous academic progress and friendships.The teachers are so patient, the parent community incredibly welcoming, and his teachers are always communicating with us as parents.”
Meghan says Catholic schools “should prioritize inclusiveness because it promotes the very virtues that our faith is based on. Inclusivity promotes compassion and kindness and encourages all children to accept people as God made them – to accept children as their friends and into their classrooms, despite the fact that some children may act a little differently.
“For many families, sending their children to Catholic school is more than about learning the ABCs or learning how to read and write,” she concludes. “It’s a tradition in many families – it’s a crucial part of their faith. Watching our son, Brendan, go to St. Mel School that first day in his uniform, is something we won’t forget. That was an amazing moment, such an amazing day. As parents, it made us so happy.”