Declining enrolment has forced the Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools to amalgamate two special education programs in its elementary schools.
Starting in September, the Foundations program will only be offered at St. Teresa Avila School. Previously, it was offered at both Holy Family School and St. Teresa of Avila School.
“There is significant decrease in the students that will be requiring the program for September 2011,” said Sally Deck, director of special education.
“Instead of having nine or 10 students in one program, and the same in the other program, (next year) we will only have a total of 10 students.”
If there are more than 10 students, the district will accommodate them. St. Teresa of Avila was chosen as the remaining site mainly because the north-end school has a sensory room for the program.
This year, there are about 20 students in the two programs.
For the last seven years, there were seven or eight students at each site.
Deck owes the decrease in enrolment to the changing trend not only in Alberta Education but in society in general.
“Parents are choosing inclusive programs in the regular classroom when they make that transition from kindergarten to Grade 1,” said Deck. “So you had a decrease in the number of students entering into the program. We anticipate that to continue.
“Secondly, Alberta Education’s decision and philosophy is for a more inclusive education system. And that’s really a movement in response to parents, educators and other stakeholders across the province over the past two years.”
Offered in Grades 1 to 5, the program is geared toward students with severe disabilities, including severe to profound autism, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and developmental delays.
Students work with a teacher and educational assistant in areas such as language arts, math and social skills outside the regular classroom.
They attend regular classes with their educational assistant for non-academic subjects, including physical education, art, music and religion.
Red Deer Catholic offers special education programming for Grades 6 to 9 and Grades 10 to 12. Deck said there has not been a significant decrease in enrolment in these programs.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com