Special needs program at Calgary Catholic school on chopping block

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Parents at a small community school of 74 learning disabled students fear their unique program is shutting down, forcing kids to move to larger schools with more stress and less support.

Officials with the Calgary Catholic School District are proposing closure of the congregated learning disabilities program at St. Anthony School in Elboya, with plans to move students into two new, larger schools — St. Stephen in Southwood and St. Wilfred in Whitehorn.

Victoria Wychick, whose son Joshua attends St. Anthony due to a range of challenges including autism, says changing schools will be disruptive, stressful and without the same kinds of unique and ongoing supports that are provided at St. Anthony, which is serves special-needs kids in grades 4 to 7. 

“This school is a gem. It is the only one in the system that is like this,” Wychick said.

“It is a community culture, where students have educational assistants, occupational therapists, physical therapists. Every single one of them is invaluable.

“My son probably gets help from three to four different people every day. And the teachers work with the parents, they help me to be a better teacher to my son. It is safe, it is supportive, because it is small.”

Wychick says Joshua, who is in Grade 5, had struggled in the past but has thrived at St. Anthony, launching his reading level from pre-kindergarten to Grade 2 in just a few months. 

“He loves his school because he loves all of his teachers. St. Anthony is its own little culture, which is why it works.

“But at St. Stephen, we don’t know what kinds of supports will be there. They may have just the one teacher in the classroom. We don’t know if they need help on the playground, or out of the classroom, if it will be there for them.

“It will be a big step backwards.”

Wychick stressed that parents have only been guaranteed that students will “have access” to educational assistants at the new school sites, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will always be on site.

Cheryl Low, chair for the board of trustees with the Calgary Catholic School District, says the district is proposing the change in hopes of providing more options for families who live farther from St. Anthony, and also offer more capacity for future students with learning disabilities at two larger locations.

She added that the CCSD will do everything possible to provide the same level of support and educational assistants at the new schools.

“We want to continue to offer the same program in these two other schools, but also give parents a few more options in terms of two different locations, particularly for families that live in the north part of the city.

“We understand that there are some concerns and we’re doing our best to support all students in the district.”

Low added that the classrooms for learning disabled students at St. Stephen and St. Wilfrid will not be larger than 15 students.

But Roberta Cude, an academic strategist at Mount Royal University with an expertise in learning disabilities, said putting special needs-kids in a separated classroom in a regular school sets them up for stress and fear.

“They will be in a corner of the school, and other kids will see them and not understand why they are different,” she said.

When the special-needs students arrive for the day, leave their class to go to the washroom, have lunch, have recess and then go home for the day, they will be singled out, Cude added.

St. Anthony parents were notified in letters sent home last week that the CCSD would make a decision on closure by Nov. 30.

That date has been pushed back to mid-January after parents raised concerns about not getting enough time to raise concerns.

eferguson@postmedia.com