The Ottawa-Carleton Board of Education has warped classroom dynamics. By snipping fifty special education teachers from its payroll, it has placed many special needs children in regular classrooms. The board’s defense is that the level of service for the special needs program was too high in the first place. But who’s going to believe everything the board says after it betrayed its earlier promise to not implement the cuts this year? For a board that seems to have a lot to say, it has said very little about the impact of these cuts on the system as a whole. The demise of the separate special education classroom is going to affect every student in the school system.
There are gifted children getting bored with their work and launching paper airplanes towards the nearest target. There is the majority of the classroom wanting this learning show to get on the road. Then there is the teacher who is overwhelmed by additional numbers of special needs children in the class. Children the teacher will likely feel compelled to spend extra time with, while the quality of education for the whole class slides down a slippery slope.
Look at the math and the problem becomes bigger. Over 3,000 special needs children in Ottawa will be displaced by the loss of 50 teachers. Now add almost 4,000 children that are still waiting to be assessed as being special needs. This is a potential of nearly 7,000 children facing a serious loss of support.
Most special education classes in secondary schools disappear without the teachers. More than 1,500 elementary school kids are losing their special education resource teachers.
In the long run, this could translate into more dropouts. Many children who lose interest in school don’t finish. There is no shortage of evidence pointing to the increased level of support that is necessary for students with special needs. About 75 per cent of young offenders have learning disabilities. About half of all welfare recipients have not completed high school, and one quarter of them have learning disabilities. It is hard enough to keep kids in school. There is no need to increase the chances of more falling out. It is the duty of the education system to educate all children. Funding shouldn’t be taken from those who need the most help.
The gifted program could probably have more money cut from it. Students who generally have an advantage don’t need expensive help to get through school.
At the heart of the matter are thousands of children in Ottawa who weren’t born with one foot already climbing the ladder. These are the kids who are in danger of dropping out. These are the children whose self-esteem will suffer as they fall farther behind. However, if the board and the provincial government choose to see it as a matter of pure economics, then they need not look past the closest juvenile detention centre or welfare office to see both the human and financial consequences.
—Laura Aiken