My heart is singing today, and the AIMS report should be sitting at every desk in the provincial education ministries, the school boards, principals desks, and every premier’s desk across Canada. But alas, reports that shows the realities of students, regardless if the students have special needs or not are buried much like the trash is buried in the landfill sites. , In the same way LD students learning and educational needs are buried among the hubris of edubabble and eduspeak. 

The two CBC radio interviews, the first one by Paul Bennett, and the second one, is the response from the public education establishment sprouting the usual statements, that only a public education system can provide the needs for all students. Note, when the establishment of the public education system responds, there is no mentioned of the dismal stats and the slamming of future doors by the education establishment,  for students with special needs, and for the biggest sub-population of special needs, the students with learning disabilities.

http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/2012/02/27/special-needs-students-struggling-in-the-public-system/

Check out the title - “Privatising special needs education could drain the public system.”
http://www.cbc.ca/informationmorningns/2012/02/28/privatising-special-needs-education-could-drain-the-public-system/

After hearing the rah rah patronizing edubabble in the second CBC radio interview, I sure wish I could wave a magic wand, and turn everyone who opposes choice, based on the silly argument of privatization, into dyslexics, that never had received the proper supports and effective remediation of the weaknesses.

Choice, and I sure wish I had options for my youngest child. within an education system, that thinks it is okay to keep all special needs children, including the LD children from ever reaching their full potential. If I had left it in the hands of the public education system, my child would not have been discussing with the principal this morning, her post-secondary plans and her course selections. No, she be sitting in a basic class, and viewed as high-risked by the educationalists with a jaundice eye.

” Bridgeway isn’t here to destroy the public education system, we’re here to partner with it.  We believe that inclusion means being surrounded by your true peers, which in our case are students with LDs.  We don’t want to keep students forever - we want to remediate their skills and send them back to the public school system.

We’re going to give our parents and students a voice on our blog, and hope you’ll share them with others.  Here is one parent’s letter to the media about his son, Tim.”
http://bridgewayschools.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-bridgeway-matters-tims-story.html?spref=fb

Awesome news.
Take note Ontario!

Appearing on CBC Information Morning Nova Scotia has really helped to raise the profile of the NS Tuition Support Program and particularly the Bridgeway Academy model as a complement to the public school system.

Today Wade Brummet ( former President of EEANS) made the case on CBC Radio Talk Back much more effectively than anyone else, speaking from the heart.

Rallying to the defense of the status quo was none other than Dr. Lyn Aylward (Acadia), a key member of the 2007 Ministers Review Committee that recommended the cancellation of the Tuition Support Program and the return of all students to their home schools.  That recommendation has been rejected twice here in Nova Scotia, once by PC Education Minister Jamie Muir and then in 2010 by NDP Education Minister Marilyn More.

We are making headway in promoting parental choice, but the biggest challenge remains forging a unified coalition to promote a “students first” agenda. Some Special Education parents here are so desperate for immediate help and support that they are vulnerable to the usual appeals to “stop the cuts” and very unsure about who they can trust. They have reason to be distrustful and, one hopes, will eventually recognize who their real friends are in the struggle for education reform.