More than 10 years after adopting a 'full inclusion' model, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District stops to reflect with The Urban Collaborative

On a sunny Wednesday in April, the West Linn High School Performing Arts Center bustled with more than the usual lunchtime activity.

Teachers from across the United States packed into the band room to listen to a panel of students reflect on what “full inclusion” education means to them.

They shared stories about their peers and teachers, what they’ve learned from differently-abled classmates and what they’ll take away after graduation.

In conjunction with Portland Public Schools, the West Linn-Wilsonville School District hosted the annual Urban Collaborative meeting from March. Urban Collaborative is a national network of 105 school districts that meet to solve challenges and share successes for special education programs that utilize the “full inclusion” model

Full inclusion is the desegregation of students with special needs and individualized education plans from the rest of the student body. Each student can attend their own neighborhood schools alongside their neighbors, friends and classmates.

“We’ve dismantled segregated settings and self-contained programs within our district and our students are attending their neighborhood schools,” said WLWVSD Special Education Director Lauren Brigsby. “We are always reaching and continuing to grow in ways that are supportive of our students and staff.”

Brigsby added that her favorite panel from the meeting was hosted by WL-WV teachers who were part of the district when it made the switch to full inclusion more than 10 years ago.

“It was really eye-opening to hear people in a space where they felt like they could share what was really amazing, what was hard, what was exciting, where they’re continuing, to bring forward the voices of people doing the work and making a difference,” said Brigsby.

During the student panel, Theo Marshall, a WLHS student, reflected on the differences between full inclusion and a model with designated special education classrooms.

“We won’t always be separated by the classroom,” said Marshall, adding that the model he’d experienced through elementary school, middle school and now high school was closer to the real world.

For the school district administration, the Urban Collaborative meeting meant considerable work, but also an opportunity to reflect on more than a decade of change.

“I got into this profession thinking about our most vulnerable, thinking about who's underserved, who's had that deck of cards stacked against them, and my whole career, educationally, was building relationships with those students, helping them find their future,” said WLHS Principal Trevor Menne. “We take pride in being a great school in a great place and that takes hard work. We don’t often get to reflect and celebrate where we’ve been to where we are now.”