Advocates and teachers at Ontario’s four schools for the deaf and blind gathered at Robarts School for the Deaf in London, Ont., to bring attention to the lack of funding for deaf education.
Around 30 students, parents, and staff were outside Robarts on Tuesday afternoon to bring attention to the issue. The London school, which serves students from pre-school to high school, is one of four publicly-funded schools for deaf students in Ontario.
“There are many issues that need to be touched upon; one main issue is neglect. We have been requesting funding that has not been approved where other schools within different school boards are being approved constantly,” says Provincial Schools Authority Teachers (PSAT) D30 President Tamara Witcher.
“The deaf schools, the blind schools are not being approved for funding, for resources. Our buildings are falling apart.”
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.
Witcher noted that the school for the blind in Brantford has a roof that is caving in and that Robarts in London had its boiler break in February and students were forced to learn in the cold for over a month before it was fixed.
“There was a public school with a similar issue and right away they closed the school and fixed it and were back in two days,” she said.
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Organizers are calling for more funding and resources from the provincial government, more qualified staff, and more transparency and accountability.
Another key issue advocates are raising is a lack of staff, which Witcher says has led to substitute teachers sometimes covering two classes at once.
Jonathan McCalum is in Grade 9 at Robarts School for the Deaf in London and Jamill Stewart is in Grade 10. The two were at the rally on Tuesday to show support and advocate for their education.
“We have noticed there have been a lot of cuts to the teachers and replacements and we have noticed these things are happening that did not happen before,” McCalum says.
“There is constantly supply teachers coming in and out and it’s been incredibly noticeable and It’s been consistent.”
McCalum says he would like to be able to take elective courses like photography, but says they don’t have the option because of a lack of staff.
“We can’t do physical education because we don’t have a regular teacher in there so we need consistent teachers to be able to teach us versus having supply teachers come in,” Stewart said.
The two say they want the resources to continue learning in an “enriched” deaf environment with their peers.
“We are the same as people who are not deaf, we just can’t hear. But if we are provided the same access, the same support, the same thing the rest of the population has then we can grow up to be as successful as they are,” McCalum said.
Enrolment at the schools has been dropping, but Witcher says that it’s not because there are fewer deaf people in Ontario. She thinks it’s because people are not being made aware of their options, noting she met a deaf man who lived in London, Ont., his whole life but only found out there was a school for the deaf when he became an adult.
PSAT District 30 Officer David Sykes says there are at least 42 students on a waitlist to attend Robarts in London but they are not being admitted because the provincial government shut down their resource service department during COVID-19 and has yet to reopen it.
Sykes said the issues in the schools are “long-standing” and need to be addressed.
The Tuesday rally marks the third of four to take place, one at each school across the province.
Last week, one was held at Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf in Belleville which saw over 130 people. The week before one was held at the Ernest C. Drury School for the Deaf in Milton. The next rally is set to take place in Brantford.
— with files from Global News’ Megan King
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