CHARLOTTE — A new program will enable children with special needs to remain enrolled in the Diocese of Charlotte’s Catholic schools from kindergarten all the way through high school.
The Options Program, which launches in August for the 2021-’22 academic year, creates a path for kindergarten-fifth grade students enrolled in the Matthew Morgan program at St. Patrick School and the MAP program at St. Ann School who continue at Holy Trinity Middle School in Charlotte to go on to Charlotte Catholic High School. Students in the PACE program at Our Lady of the Assumption School can go on to Charlotte Catholic as well.
In elementary school, the Matthew Morgan program at St. Patrick School serves students with Down Syndrome. The MAP program at St. Ann School and the PACE program at Our Lady of the Assumption School are designed for students with special needs who require a modified academic curriculum. All three of these programs matriculate to Holy Trinity’s MAP (Modified Academic Program) for students in sixth to eighth grades.
The diocese’s Catholic schools have served students with special learning needs for many years, but this additional effort will open the door to a high school education and opportunities for higher education.
“What makes this new is a curriculum specifically developed to bring these two programs together and creates a ‘certificate’ path that will allow these students to explore options on college/university campuses beyond high school,” said Amy Tobergte, principal of St. Patrick School and among those spearheading the Options Program.
“We call it the Options Program because it gives options for all students, so they all have the opportunity to learn in a Catholic environment,” said Angela Montague, former principal of St. Patrick School when the Matthew Morgan Program began about 18 years ago and now assistant principal at Charlotte Catholic High School.
“It’s been really exciting” to be a part of developing the program, said Stephen Dey, parent of a special-needs daughter who just graduated from Holy Trinity Middle School. Avery Dey will be among the first students to participate in the Options Program this fall at Charlotte Catholic.
Dey himself is a 1985 graduate of Charlotte Catholic, and a member of the diocesan school board serving as a parent advisor on the Catholic Schools Office’s Special Needs committee.
“There has been a lot of research done in the last couple of years on how we want the program to look and what life skills we want to teach,” Dey said. “Over the last three or four years as the program developed at Holy Trinity, with our sights on CCHS as Avery moves on, the program gained support. It is going to be a great thing.”
Dey noted that the Options Program is still in the initial stages, but he encouraged parents of special-needs students to “have the endgame in mind,” by supporting their child with developing their social skills and looking ahead to what they may want to do beyond high school.
Dey and his wife Jessica have set up an endowment for the Options Program with an initial gift of $5,000 to help ensure financial support is available in the future for students and their families. Other donors have joined them and the endowment now totals $20,000. The hope is that the endowment will grow and support special-needs programs in all 19 schools across the diocese.
“The endowment is our legacy we can leave to help build the program and funding as we go on,” Dey said.
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
For more information
Learn more about the Options Program at Charlotte Catholic High School and other educational programs for students with enhanced educational needs online at www.charlottediocese.org/macs/special-learning-programs or contact Sissie Kilby, admissions coordinator, at 704-370-3273 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..