Parents, teachers and students of Ontario’s four schools for the deaf and blind gathered at Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville Ont. on Thursday to protest ongoing provincial funding cuts to special education.
“This rally is to raise awareness about the problems that exist in provincial schools,” says Provincial Schools Authority Teachers (PSAT) District 30 Officer David Sykes. “They’re deep rooted problems, they’re systemic problems and they’re long standing problems.”
Sykes says the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) has seen his district’s membership decrease from about 205 teachers to 174 at last count.
“We’re noticing the declining enrollment as well,” Sykes says. “And it’s not that there’s less deaf kids being born in this province, it’s that they’re not getting identified and they’re not being provided with an opportunity to attend our schools.”
According to OSSTF PSAT D30, 130 people were in attendance of the day’s event.
Organizers are calling on the provincial government for oversight and transparency, as well as protection of provincial schools through funding programs, resources and staffing.
“Special education students are the last ones to get services,” says PSAT D30 President Tamara Witcher. “We’ve already lost 25 per cent of our teachers in the last few years. 25 per cent!”
PSAT D30 represents teachers working in Ontario’s four provincial schools; E.C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton, Robarts School for the Deaf in London, Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville and the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind in Brantford.
“Deaf schools are the best place for deaf children to learn,” says Sarah Colbeck. “For education, for their social skills, life skills, their first languages.”
Colbeck attended Sir James Whitney throughout her schooling, as did her parents before her.
She now has five deaf children, two of whom currently attend Sir James Whitney.
“The issue mainly is the admin and the administrators, they need to change,” Colbeck continues. “And we need a deaf rep at that level of government to help us fight for those changes. And then you’ll see our school systems improve.”
Parents and teachers both say that their requests aren’t new. Funding is necessary for their students to thrive.
The Thursday rally marks the second of four to take place, one at each school across the province.
Last week, one was held at the Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton. Over the next two weeks there will be demonstrations in London and Brantford.
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