Home and School president says school lacking resource teachers

By Andrew Brown andrew@peicanada.com Eastern Graphic

Nadine Williams is frustrated. She is president of the Home and School Association in Montague, and she is concerned that students with learning disabilities at Montague Consolidated are not receiving a proper education.

The problem stems from what Ms Williams believes is a lack of resource teachers.

“I’ve been fighting with the Department of Education for four years,” Ms Williams said. “Our school has a wonderful resource teacher who can’t reach all of the students who need her aid.”

Ms Williams, who has three of her own children in the school says many parents do everything they can at home, but want the school system to hold up its end of the bargain.

“I’m looking for more resource teachers. They say it’s all about early intervention, but now the older kids get left out,” Ms Williams said.

Ms Williams says students receive less resource time as they get older, which is an even bigger concern with kindergarten students entering the system next year.

“It’s the responsibility of the Department of Education to supply the means necessary for the kids to succeed,” she said. “They do all these tests and all these research projects.”

“They (students with learning disabilities) learn differently. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Most kids with learning disabilities have above average intelligence,” she said.

Jean Doherty, communications officer with the PEI Department of Education, says the department provides funding and some broad policies, but it’s up to the local school board to properly staff the schools.

Tim Murphy, Montague Consolidated principal is proud of the resource program at his school, but he is always looking for ways to do it better.

“You never feel like you have enough. On any team, there are going to be spots where you wish you had more,” Mr Murphy said.

Mr Murphy, who has been the principal for four years, is in charge of staffing, and feels it has been done effectively.

“To say we only have one resource teacher is misleading,” Mr Murphy said.

The principal says there is a special education resource teacher who spends half of the time testing and determining where students are academically, and the other half working one-on-one with students who require the help. There is also a resource teacher who splits time between reading recovery, and resource teaching for kids in Grades 1 to 3.

The school has several programs including a work club and PLIP (Primary Literacy Intervention Program) classroom support.

The work club is a daily 30 minute program and is intended for kids that can do the work, but might be struggling. A tutor and any teachers that are not busy at the time help. It is focused mostly on language arts, but other subject areas are also worked on.

The PLIP program, which was first implemented at Montague Consolidated but has since been picked up across PEI, is a step beyond the work club. It is intended for students who display more difficulty with various subject areas and are falling behind what is required to move on to the next grade.

If those programs do not work, the school moves on to an IEP (Individual Education Plan). IEPs are used for students who have fallen behind a grade level in more than two subjects.