Some 900 teachers and parents have so far signed a petition in which they urge the Montreal School Services Center (CSSDM) to stop abolishing special education classes. They even intend to question the Minister of Education in Quebec on Friday, we learned Duty.
The CSSDM, for its part, does not intend to reverse its decision to apply in a more “rigorous” manner, in recent years, the admission criteria for special training path (CPF) classes. A situation which has had the effect of reducing the number of students eligible for these classes, and therefore the number of them by 26 over the last two years, in 19 secondary schools in the metropolis, reported Radio-Canada this week last.
Previously, a student who had failed in French or mathematics during their last year of primary school was often enrolled the following year in a CPF class, where the number of students is reduced and where they can benefit from a support adapted to their needs, for example in remedial education.
Over the last two years, however, the CSSDM has decided to apply more strictly the criteria — already in force previously, but which were not systematically applied — concerning access to these specialized classes. Thus, only students who have failed both in mathematics and in French, two years in a row, now have access to these classes.
“This means that you have a lot of students with great difficulties who will end up in regular classes in secondary school”, where their needs are not met, notes with concern Ismaël Seck, who is a special education teacher within from Lucien-Pagé secondary school.
A mobilization is organized
As of Tuesday afternoon, 786 signatures from teachers and more than a hundred parents had been collected in a petition which calls for “a moratorium on the closure of CPF-type classes in secondary schools and the creation of a committee responsible for reviewing the admission criteria.”
The document, obtained by Dutyalso evokes the possibility that behind “this rhetoric of inclusion” of the CSSDM lies “an austerity project aimed at reducing the costs associated with public schools as well as a clumsy plan to hide the teacher shortage”.
“There are clearly money that we are trying to raise in this way,” says the spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees de parents nationaux du Québec, Sylvain Martel. “You won’t be able to justify to me that it’s something else. »
The CSSDM, for its part, rejects the very idea that it is closing CPF classes. Rather, he claims to only open the number of adaptation classes sufficient to accommodate students who truly need them. The deputy general director of the CSSDM, Pascale Gingras, also affirms that what the teachers behind this mobilization are asking “is to continue to accept students who are successful in special education classes”. An avenue that the organization no longer wishes to take, which has decided to apply the criteria for access to CPF classes in a more “rigorous” manner.
“For students who are successful in primary school and who enter secondary school, I expect them to go to regular classes,” insists M.me Gingras, while emphasizing that the CSSDM has opened new specialized classes in recent years intended for students who are “really failing”.
Quebec questioned
According to our information, this petition — which will continue to accumulate signatures in the coming days — will be submitted on November 13 as part of the next meeting of the CSSDM board of directors. In the meantime, several teachers and at least one Montreal parent will take part in a press conference in the presence of Québec solidaire MP Ruba Ghazal on Friday, in Quebec, to ask the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to intervene in this case, learned Duty.
Joined by DutyMinister Drainville’s office argued that the total number of specialized classes — all categories combined — increased by a net of 24 this year, compared to last year. However, only one of these specialized classes concerns secondary school students, who are those affected by the reduction in the number of CPF classes, teachers point out.
“The success of all students, particularly those with special needs, is a priority for us,” says Minister Drainville’s office, while adding that it is up to the CSSDM to make decisions “according to its reality.”