This article is from page 8 of the 2009-02-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
THE decision to discontinue a class for children with special needs at St Senan’s National School, Kilrush has been branded “inhumane and incon- siderate”’.
Maura Clohessey, whose six-year- old granddaughter is one of three pupils in the Mild General Learning Disability (MGLD) class at St Sen- an’s, said her family are “saddened and annoyed” at the decision.
Maura said her granddaughter has severe physical and intellectual dis- abilities and that it would not be appropriate for her to go into main- stream education.
St Senan’s is the only school in the west Clare peninsula that offers spe- cial needs supports.
“She would have to go into Ennis and she would not by physically able for a 70-mile round-trip every day. It’s inhumane and inconsiderate and the families weren’t even consulted,” added Maura. Maura described the school as a “home away from home” for her granddaughter.
‘She has an excellent teacher, Deir- dre Kenny, and she gets great support from the special needs assistants. The learning style is appropriate to her needs,’ added Maura.
School principal Paddy McInerney said the MGLD class at St Senan’s now catered for children with severe OURS leye bales
“This is in no way equitable; it’s just plain picking on the softest tar-
get. They have obviously not thought this through, because if they did they would have looked at individual cas- es,’ added Mr. McInerney.
Sean McMahon, INTO representa- tive for Clare, labeled the announce- ment by Education Minister Batt O’ Keeffe to close 128 special classes for children with mild learning dif- ficulties “a disgrace”.
Mr McMahon continued, “Coming as it did on a day when billions in tax payers’ money was found to recapi- talise the banks, 1t showed without any doubt how those who had noth- ing to do with the country’s economic difficulties are paying a huge price.”
Reacting to Minster O’Keeffe’s comments that many children would integrate easily into mainstream edu- cation, Mr McMahon said, “It is pat- ent nonsense to return these children to classes in which, through no fault of their own, they couldn’t cope with in the first place. These mainstream classes are themselves now even more over-crowded than they were when the children were withdrawn because of the other recent budget cutbacks, which resulted in signifi- cant increases in class sizes.”