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- 08.09.2017, 14:06
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Höhe über NN: 190 m
- KanadaOntarioThornhill43°47’13” N 79°25’17” W
Day 4 Spec Ed Dept Meeting
8. September 2017 in Kanada ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Jeewan Chanicka gave an impassioned and deeply personal speech to the special education department. Our assistive technology team was in attendance along with all the consultants, the centrally assigned principals, the autism team, the behavior team, low incidence team, all the coordinators and of course the superintendent, Uton Robinson. Jeewan is part of the senior team of superintendents. He is in charge of anti racism, anti oppression and equity. I highlighted the main points he made below:
There is one conversation we should all be having as the"vanguard" of support for children with special needs. The evidence is clear. Our system, of which we are all a part, is racist, oppressive and causing harm that it was not designed to cause. We cannot hide behind our good intentions. That is not good enough. We must assess our success as a profession based on our impact. Our plan for dismantling and rebuilding must start with the most marginalized students. Universal design for learning will ensure what is necessary for some and will benefit everybody. At risk students are only at risk of the system. Students don't drop out. They are pushed out by the system.
We have an Education Act but it is not neutral, not objective. Our systems and structures drive practice but they are artifacts of particular beliefs. They serve some and not others. We need to look back upon the Charter of Rights and Freedom and the Ontario Human Rights Code to advocate for what is best for the child. Challenge the system to be better. Question why children are being disproportionately placed in special education settings based on social identities.
There are so many groups our system works against. Those of us who benefit from the system have privilege. Privilege is nothing to feel guilty about. People with privilege still have had to work hard and overcome obstacles but it needs to be recognized that there are cultural conditions which others have to deal with everyday that those with privilege do not. Whether it is gender, race, language, being able bodied, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class some of us have an advantage based on forces outside ourselves. Those with privilege have their voices heard but, according to our director, the goal of education, as it pertains to this conversation, is to give the least represented the loudest voice.
Don't be patient with us anymore, he said. We have been patient for generations and we have lost children. The lack of resources is not an excuse for the oppression of children.
Toronto leads the province. People are paying attention. He finished by reminding us that the single greatest trust someone can give you is their child. People will die for their children but they hand them over to the care of our schools everyday. The parents of 250 000 children trust us everyday.Weiterlesen