Pearson hears parents out

Teaching French at English schools, tending to children with special needs and the magnet school program were the three main topics discussed by a group of about 60 parents and Lester B. Pearson officials at a "town hall"-style meeting held yesterday night at Ste. Anne de Bellevue's Macdonald High School.

"It's quite difficult to meet every child's needs," said Karen Jones, a Grade 7-8 teacher at Macdonald High School, adding it is "ridiculous" to expect teachers and parents to be able to do so, as she garnered applause from several sitting in the audience around her.

Of the three issues discussed during the evening, opinions seemed to differ most sharply on the school board's inclusion policy for children with special needs.

Currently, such students are not placed in different classes with different teachers, but rather, integrated into regular classrooms. They follow their own particular programs if needed, have integration aides and special support, but also follow the regular school curriculum.

"Our current approach is to integrate all students," explained the board's assistant director-general Viviane Croubelian during a brief presentation.

While the two other subjects revealed parents had a variety of opinions as well, it was the special needs topic that gathered the most attention.

"There are no special kids' classes in the West Island," said Helen Finn, one of the parents who had shown up at the meeting, reading off a list of prepared concerns about the topic.

Finn said there are simply not enough options in the West Island for parents who have special needs children and do not necessarily want them to follow a regular school curriculum. "We don't have to wait to be the last to do it," she said, mentioning how school boards in Ontario and several states in the U.S.A. have adopted such methods.

Other parents, who do not have special needs children, also raised concern over the issue. "My kid deserves not to have his needs cut back," said one woman, adding how children who do not have special needs may be held back by the attention required of the same teacher by children with special needs.

"It was not to make my kid normal that I sent him to school," another parent with a special needs child shot back. She said she wanted to have her child be included in a regular classroom, and went to complete his special education needs elsewhere. "I didn't expect one place to do that," she added.

Magnet schools were another hot topic during the evening. According to a presentation by Steve Balleine, senior director at the school board, there are about 12 high schools with magnet programs in the school board.

Created as a means to fight declining enrolment in the English public system in favour of the private sector, magnet programs in different schools can encompass a variety of different fields, including an international baccalaureate program at Lindsay Place or Macdonald High School.

Here, again, some parents raised concern that the needs of particularly gifted children are not being met with the magnet programs. Dollard des Ormeaux resident Benjie Meleras pointed out some parents may be switching to private enrolment in order for their children to get that extra attention. "There are only so many hours a parent can spend with special math or science books for their kids," he said.

The debate on French language education also yielded a variety of opinions. The school board currently presents two options: an early French immersion program, or an evenly split bilingual program.

Aliane Van Der Bush, a parent with children in the school board system, said that, while learning French was important, she was also concerned her children may not be getting the full attention in English that they need. "This is a multi-national job environment now," she said, adding it was very important for children to be able to communicate in English as well.

However, one parent who did not reveal his name when speaking pointed to a recent Quebec Community Groups Network study that revealed many anglophone youth in the province want to learn more French. The network, a non-profit organization that advocates English minority rights across the province, surveyed 400 English-speaking youth in different anglophone communities and found they were looking to learn more French, he said.

Pearson chairperson Marcus Tabachnick said he was satisfied with yesterday night's dialogue. "We're dealing in an atmosphere of distrust of all levels of government," he told The Chronicle, and it is important to be able to open up a conversation with the public they serve, he added.

He said all of yesterday's comments and suggestions would be carefully studied and reviewed by the board.

The board will hold another "town hall" meeting with parents at Lachine's Lakeside Academy on Tuesday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. A live webcast will be available on the schoolboard's website at www2.lbpsb.qc.ca