Advertisement

Wheelchair-bound Nanaimo student can’t get to band class in portable

WATCH ABOVE: A Nanaimo mother says her school and school district have abandoned her special needs son. Kylie Stanton reports.

“I was a drummer. Always [got] an A,” says Bob Barton, a student a Rock City Elementary School in Nanaimo.

At least, he was an A student. Barton is in a wheelchair and music class this year has been in a portable without a ramp. It means the avid drummer hasn’t been able to attend the class this school year.

“It’s unreal, I can’t believe it,” says his mother Shannon Raines. “I wish people would step up and resolve the issue so I wouldn’t have to go to extremes for my son to have access to a public building.”

For the past two months, Raines has been exchanging emails with the school about the issue, but they passed them along to the school district. Earlier this month, the school district sent an email saying they would “be getting back to [Raines] as soon as possible.”
Story continues below advertisement

Dale Burgos, Director of Communications for School District 68, says a solution has been reached.

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

“The music class is going to be moved. That’s already in the works, they’re just figuring out where exactly in the school they’re going to do that,” he told Global News.

However, a date for that change hasn’t been announced yet, leaving Bob wondering when he’ll get to practice with his classmates again.

“To me it’s discriminatory,” says his mom.

“If one student can’t get into a building, then no one should be able to.”

– With files from Kylie Stanton

Sponsored content

AdChoices