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McBean family finds its place at Holy Rosary Catholic School

For Christina and Eric McBean, Holy Rosary Catholic School in Flint is a gift that surrounds their sons in love and learning on a daily basis.

Christina gave the following speech during Catholic Schools Week to the Holy Rosary parish, praising the way the school provides her special needs son with an excellent education in a caring, faith-filled environment.

Read the entire speech below by Christina McBean, a parent at Holy Rosary Catholic School:

“Holy Rosary has been an unexpected and an incredible blessing.

My husband has dreamed of sending his children to Catholic school since before they were born - certainly before he married me!

I have always been a strong supporter of public education and had long worked in public schools as a substitute teacher. I felt conflicted about sending my children to a private school, albeit a Christian school. I had a child with special needs - how was this even going to work? Would they have programs available for him? Would they even be able to teach him?

My child had been at the GISD Early Childhood Developmentally Delayed program for 2 years prior to starting Kindergarten at Holy Rosary. They felt he was ready to mainstream to regular education. So, I took a deep breath and we enrolled him at Holy Rosary.

Then an amazing thing happened. My son started talking in complete sentences. My son learned to write his name. He wrote his name on my dishwasher one day and though, distressed at my sudden need for a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, I actually stopped to take a picture to show my husband "Look at his handwriting! It's awesome!"

In Mrs. Heather O'Brien's kindergarten class he was a stinker, but she always remained professional and challenged him to do better. And he did.

Holy Rosary has allowed my son to excel in ways he never would have in a public school. Whenever my son was a stinker, Mrs. O. would bring him into the church where the calm serenity of God's presence and the trickling of the font would immediately calm him. When he became too difficult to teach, Holy Rosary allowed us to hire our own paraprofessional to assist him in the classroom - an opportunity we could have never been afforded in a public school system.

Through it all, there was a fear that nagged at me from the time he was diagnosed. Bullying. A victim of vicious bullying myself as a kid, I was fearful for both of my children as they became school age.

Let me tell you about the wonderful students at Holy Rosary. I've never seen a more supportive, protective group of kids in my life, especially the current 5th grade class. Both my boys have formed bonds that I'm sure will last them a lifetime—but to see how my son's classmates rally around and support him, even when he's having his meltdowns—tells me so much about the parents that send their children here as well as the children that attend this school.

It tells me that Holy Rosary is a school that truly abides by their mission statement that ‘Holy Rosary is centered in the Eucharist and our community is encouraged to bring Christ's Presence to everyone we meet. We follow Jesus' example through prayer, love, service, and using our talents in the pursuit of academic excellence with a deep love for learning.’”