The closure of a curative education service for disabled children will have “serious consequences” for the students of the Montreal School Service Center (CSSDM), denounce the headmasters of the metropolis. It’s wrong to say they’ll get more benefits, they say.
Posted at 5:00 am
In a letter to its members received by La Presse, the association, which represents Montreal’s school principals, rejects the CSSDM’s decision, which announced last week that it will deploy 22 remedial teachers for the next school year, representing approximately 250 support students with disabilities.
“While people are looking to us to break the bad news to parents, and want us to believe that these students are getting better results, we regret that this momentous decision was made rashly and without real consultation,” write Kathleen Legault and Stéphane Brunet, President and Vice President of the Montreal Association of School Principals (AMDES).
The association did not want to grant an interview on this subject.
It is the Pedagogical Support Service for the Integration of Students with Physical Disabilities (SSPI) that is being abolished. For 40 years, it has consisted of teachers who support pupils with disabilities who attend so-called “normal” schools. Each support teacher travels to several schools.
Benoit Thomas, Director of Educational Services at CSSDM, explains that services are distributed rather differently.
We are not announcing a reduction in performance, we are announcing an optimization and a more adequate response to student needs. There is a discrepancy between what the AMDES shares and the story on the ground.
Benoit Thomas, Head of Educational Services at the CSSDM
Some students who are epileptic or diabetic, for example, are not best served by a remedial teacher, says Thomas. “It will be a caregiver who accompanies him in his daily care,” he explains. But these curative teachers also support students who suffer from dyspraxia or a rare hereditary disease.
The “most vulnerable of the vulnerable” are affected
Liberal education critic Marwah Rizqy does not believe the CSSDM’s version that the services will be maintained. This is a complete collapse of the service, she said.
“They say the service is continuous throughout the school. It’s impossible: currently they can’t offer the service to all the students with the remedial teachers in the school,” says Ms. Rizqy.
This service center decision affects “the most vulnerable of the most vulnerable,” continues Marwah Rizqy, who believes the CSSDM may have “calculated” that only a small number of students would be affected.
It’s a personalized service and those little two hours, one on one, makes all the difference.
Marwah Rizqy, Education Critic for the Liberal Party of Quebec
At last week’s National Assembly, the Member questioned Education Minister Bernard Drainville on the issue, particularly through reading statements from concerned parents.
“I am aware of this story at the moment, I am touched and I propose to take it up […] so I can check what it is,” Minister Drainville replied.
concerns of parents
La Presse has received many testimonials from parents concerned about the CSSDM’s closure of the service.
A father testifies that “the special needs teacher makes the connection to the teachers and also allows to follow the rhythm when [sa fille] misses classes due to doctor’s appointments and care she needs to receive at or outside of school.”
Many also wrote directly to Minister Drainville. Some even testify that it was neurologist Lionel Carmant, the minister in charge of social services, who examined their child.
“Thanks to the support of the curative teacher, our son was able to thrive in the school environment. Before that he was always in a borderline situation of failure,” writes one mother.
The CSSDM understands the concern of the parents and in particular the reason for it is that they learned about it in an article in La Presse last week.
“Our communications session was short-circuited and now we are in catch-up mode. The parents will be picked up and we will inform them about the situation. We will not let any child down,” said Benoit Thomas, Director of Educational Services at CSSDM.