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TASC Force
Awards Day The following is a keynote address given by the Rev. Frank Logue for the Camden County School System's TASC (Transition Acquired through a Supportive Community) Force Program. The program is community-based instruction for Mildly, Moderately, Severely and Profoundly Intellectually Disabled students. King of Peace Episcopal Day School hosts students from the program twice weekly, has a work study student through TASC and also has hired two employees from the program.
A Fairy Tale Come True
Once upon a time, there was a kingdom… Don’t you love those words. So much more inviting than the usual speech. Once upon a time invites imagination. We set aside our disbelief and let our minds go to strange places where the impossible seems real. Fairy tales are popular because they strike a chord. And if you will let your imaginations go a bit, I want to show you how TASC Force is a fairy tale program and this is a Once upon a time-happily ever after kind of morning. It’s not that I don’t want to deal with reality. I am here after all, not as the founding pastor of King of Peace Episcopal Church so much as the President of King of Peace Episcopal Day School. In that capacity, I am the president of a company with 18 employees and a quarter of a million dollar payroll. We have 64 students entrusted to our care. Our business is open 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Yes, I know the reality of running a business. And I also know TASC Force first hand through students in the program who come each week to King of Peace to spend time in our classrooms. We also have hired two employees who were trained through this program. I know that there is much more to TASC Force than we interact with at King of Peace, but we like to consider our school as part of the supportive community which makes this project not only possible, but helps it thrive. We have deeply theological reasons for supporting the belief that “all persons, regardless of their disability, have the right to a comprehensive and appropriate education that will lead to active participation within one’s own community.” But I will trust that persons of faith already understand our belief that every person should have the God-given gifts within themselves nurtured and so I don’t need to dwell on that. Instead, I prefer to ask you to let your imaginations wander to the place where anything seems possible, the land of fairy tales and make believe. Fairy Tales have such a long and noble history not because they are made up, but because they are true. The writer G.K. Chesterton helped me see this. He writes that in Sleeping Beauty we find that on the day of her birth a girl is cursed with death, yet we all share that curse too and in the fairy tale we learn that death can be a kind of sleep from which we are awakened to a new life. In fairy tales glass is a common commodity, from glass caskets to glass slippers, because life is fragile. Leave it alone and glass will last for centuries, but break it and nothing can put it together again. And from this we learn of our own fragility and to handle one another with care. In Beauty and the Beast we learn to look beyond the scary exterior to see what someone is like inside and we also discover that a person must be loved to become lovable. The story of Cinderella reveals that the proud who think they are better than everyone else will be brought down, while the good and humble will be lifted up, which is something of what is happening in Jack and the Beanstalk and other fairy tales as well. That’s why I have no problem with the runaway popularity of Disney’s princesses as seen through the girl’s at King of Peace Episcopal Day School. Because I do believe that every one of them is a princess and all our boys are heroes. I believe this because the fairy tales are teaching us to find and nurture the God-given potential within everyone. Not to raise each person to some predetermined standard, but to support each student to become their best possible selves. The central story of fairy tales is that of a person whose inner potential is overlooked. This theme is found in Puss in Boots where a miller’s son can be a prince; all he needs are the trappings of the castle and clothes. And this theme of realizing unseen potential is found much more recently in Star Wars, where the warrior who can bring down an empire is a young man with dreams of glory living unnoticed on a small planet on the backside of the universe. There is little difference in essence between Cinderella and Luke Skywalker. And if our imaginations wander, there is little difference between these fairy tales and TASC Force. On this morning for recognizing the achievements of students and the dedication of the staff and support personnel, I want you to see what we are doing here through a different lens. Because I truly believe there is no happily ever after for any community that doesn’t help everyone in it to realize their full potential. Once upon a time, there was a Kingdom of Camden, where intellectually disabled children were discovered as gifts to be loved and nurtured and each child discovered some untapped potential to unlock through hard work and perseverance. These beloved children were enriched in their growth and development by a supportive community that found that the kind of kingdom that can help these kids tap into and grow their hidden strengths is the sort of place where all can live happily ever after. The End.
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