Halton board defends new gifted program
Lisa Morgan-Long pulled her 10-year-old autistic son Stephen out of Halton's public school system. Parents of special needs children are concerned over a gifted program expansion.
RICK EGLINTON/TORONTO STARThe Halton District School Board is standing by a new program that separates gifted Grade 1 students into special classes.
“This is a very good first step in early identification of all exceptionalities,” HDSB board chair Don Vrooman said Thursday.
Halton’s new primary gifted program is set to expand in September 2011 by creating separate classes for gifted Grade 1 students. But some parents of children with other special needs, including autism and learning disabilities, are concerned about creating separate classes for gifted students while other special needs classes were shut down several years ago.
Parents who this week told the Star they can’t get enough in-school support for their special needs children and have had to leave the public school board are “the exception,” Vrooman said.
When the chair was asked to respond to families such as the Longs — who pulled their autistic son out of public school because he wasn’t getting the support he needed to succeed — he suggested they “work with the staff and the school.”
“We’ve got all sorts of resources at the board that you can draw upon to help us help your child,” he said.
Vrooman also dismissed concerns that expanding the gifted program after a two-month pilot was jumping the gun. The first separate class for gifted Grade 1 students began at Charles R. Beaudoin Public School in Burlington in September. Trustees voted 6-5 to expand the program in November.
“We never, ever, ever approve anything after two months, and it got pushed through,” said former trustee Mary Dilly, who voted against expanding the pilot.
Separate classes may work for some students, but the bottom line is that the public school system is not properly serving children with special needs, according to one advocate for inclusive education.
“There are far too many children falling through the cracks,” said Janis Jaffe-White, coordinator of the Toronto Family Network. “The amount of support that children are getting is being reduced and parents are being told there isn’t enough funding.”
Jaffe-White said teacher training, accountability for special education funds and communication within school boards and with parents must be improved to ensure all special needs students — whatever their diagnosis, whether in separate or inclusive classes — receive the support they need to get the best possible education.
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