Letting specialized schools languish, Ontario is 'creating a pathway for ODSP,' says parent
CBC
Parents and students who attend Ontario's only school for the blind say the Ministry of Education is letting its specialized schools languish, hurting students with disabilities.
W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind, in Brantford, Ont., is one of seven schools that fall under the Ministry of Education's Provincial and Demonstration Schools Branch. The school has been in operation since 1872 and is in need of repairs, said Stephanie Antone, chair of the school's parent council.
"At Macdonald, we've had a rink that's been out of service for, I want to say, more than four years, but only now there's a plan to fix the rink. We've had a heating problem at the school this last year, but that's not a new problem to the school. The boilers have been failing for years," said Antone.
"So why hasn't the Ministry of Education ... fixed it? Why? Why has it gotten to the point that it is? Some of these problems that exist — not just at W. Ross Macdonald, but at the schools for the deaf — have have been present prior to COVID," said Antone.
The Ontario government has the money to fix the schools, said David Sykes, the district officer for district 30 of the OSSTF, but it's not being spent.
A Freedom of Information request, filed by the union and viewed by CBC News, show budgets for the blind and deaf schools (four of the seven schools under the Provincial and Demonstration Schools Branch) increased as follows:
The document breaks down how the money will be spent in broad categories like school program admin, and resource services internal. Sykes has questions about if the money is being spent at all — pointing to infrastructure, like pools.
"We know that money has not been doled out because our pool has not been working at three sites for several years," said Sykes. "We believe that they are sitting on quite a lot of money."
That includes the pool at W. Ross Macdonald, confirms Antone. And while school pools may seem like a luxury, it's where students learn essential skills they can't get anywhere else, said Sykes.
"When you talk about a pool that's designated for deaf students to use, that's a place they can go and have an ASL-using lifeguard. You can't get that at a community pool," said Sykes. "It's really where deaf kids and blind and low-vision kids learn water safety. How important is that?"
W. Ross Macdonald provides programs for students from Kindergarten through to Grade 12 who are blind, low vision and deafblind. One of its famous graduates is the late Canadian musician Jeff Healey.
For Antone and her daughter, the Brantford school provides an inclusive education for people with disabilities. Antone feels the Ministry of Education needs to start investing in them again.
"There's no justification for why their schools are in the state they're in and that they are not taking the concerns of parents and staff seriously," said Antone.
"You are creating a pathway for ODSP. How fair is it that a child with a disability is not given the same resources, and is not treated as important as a student without a disability?"
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.