Reports of Children Being Turned Away from Special School Very Worrying

Tallaght-based Labour Party Cllr Dermot Looney has said that reports from St Joseph’s Special School in Balrothery that approximately 20 children with special needs were turned away from the school on its first day back yesterday are very worrying indeed. Parents were reportedly told on Thursday that the local Special Educational Needs Organiser (SENO) had decided that children previously earmarked for the school would now need to await a decision later in the month to determine whether or not they could attend St Joseph’s. It is now unclear as to the arrangements for these children to attend school in the meantime.

Looney, who works as a primary school teacher at another local school, has called on the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) to clarify the situation at the school as a matter of urgency. The NCSE tightened special schools criteria earlier this year and it is understood that these criteria are being used to justify yesterday’s announcement.

“The very existence of St Joseph’s was put under severe threat in February of this year due to Government cutbacks. At the time, the NCSE stated its intentions to cut 2/3 of the teaching and support staff, including a reduction from 16 to 6 teachers,” said Looney. “The school was also told it would lose 12 out of 17 Special Needs Assistants, although the cuts were somewhat alleviated on foot of a vocal campaign by parents and school staff.”

“In the case of yesterday's incident, it is unclear whether the local SENO had received, as reports are suggesting, the documentation on these children before the summer break, only to report today that children would have to wait until later this month before their situations are fully assessed. There is confusion over the designation of the special needs which apply to the school and it appears that the SENO has possibly taken a strict interpretation of “Mild General Learning Disabilities” which has discounted these children.”

“My understanding is that the school principal and staff, as well as parents, were until yesterday under the impression that the children were approved for attendance at the school. If this was the case it would appear that the Department of Education and Skills has failed in its basic duty of care to these pupils.”

“I understand the majority of the children concerned had been in mainstream schools last year and their parents had agreed to the huge step to move them to St Joseph’s. Uniforms were bought, transport arrangements were made and the children were all set for the year ahead when they were told the devastating news. The stories emerging from St Joseph’s of confused children in floods of tears coming out of the school are heartbreaking and everything must be done to ensure the situation for these vulnerable children is clarified immediately.”

ENDS

Note: St Joseph's is a special school in Balrothery, Tallaght which caters for approximately 100 special needs children aged between 5 and 18. The school offers a range of FETAC programmes as well as the Junior and Leaving Certificate for older children. A discussion on the incident including eyewitness accounts, has been taking place on the Special Needs Parents Association Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000878825538&v=wall&story_fbid=123113721074191#!

Press Release: Local Cllr and Teacher Slams Further Special Needs Cuts

Cllr Dermot Looney, a Labour Party representative on South Dublin County Council and primary schoolteacher, has said that reports of Government plans to axe hundreds of Special Needs Assistant posts are worrying in the extreme. Looney, a fifth class teacher in St Dominic’s School in Tallaght, has said that reports of direct cuts revealed in last week’s Irish Independent come on top of a review of SNA places which is reported to seek cuts of 1200 posts out of 17000 part- and full-time positions nationwide.

The review, announced in March, was followed by proposals from ‘An Bord Snip Nua,’ the cuts body chaired by right-wing economist Colm McCarthy, which proposed cutting 2000 full-time SNA’s.

“Special Needs Assistants are as crucial to modern Irish education as teachers or other staff,” noted Cllr Looney. “I have worked in schools across Tallaght and the wider area and know the amazing work carried out with special needs children by these committed and professional staff. Parents, children, teachers and all the other stakeholders in our education system are now distraught with news that SNA’s across Ireland are under threat, compounded by the ensuing disruption to pupils caused by lost places in the middle of the academic year.”

“Low-paid SNA’s were hit with huge cuts in take-home pay under Budget 2010. Now the threat of thousands of jobs being lost means the myth of public sector job security, often the jeer of conservative commentators, is blown apart.”

“The impact on special needs children and their classmates will be similarly vicious. Cuts in special needs classes, teachers, resources and now SNA’s point to a government stuck back in time with notions of huge classes and no staff beyond the classroom teacher. The hedge-school mentality of Batt O’Keeffe and the Government has no place in an Ireland where special needs children have an absolute right to support from teachers, SNA’s and other staff and resources.”

Press Release - SNA Cut Proposals Are “Hedge-School Mentality”

Dermot Looney, a Labour Party candidate for the new Tallaght Central Electoral Area, has said that government plans to cut Special Needs Assistants (SNA’s) in schools should be shelved. Looney, a primary school teacher in Tallaght, said that reports that a review of 10,000 SNA’s will be undertaken by the government are part of a “hedge-school mentality” and are likely to result in swathes of job cuts unless pressure is put on the government to retain SNA’s.

“Special Needs Assistants are as crucial to modern Irish education as teachers or other staff,” noted Looney. “I have worked in schools across Tallaght and the wider area and know the amazing work carried out with special needs children by these committed and professional staff. Parents, children, teachers and all the other stakeholders in our education system are now distraught with news that SNA’s across Ireland are under threat.”

“SNA’s themselves have had a tough few months, with education cuts, income levies, pension levies and the variety of assaults on public sector workers all hitting home. Now the threat of thousands of jobs being lost means the myth of public sector job security, often the jeer of conservative commentators, is blown apart.”

“Cuts in special needs classes, teachers, resources and now SNA’s point to a government stuck back in time with notions of huge classes and no staff beyond the classroom teacher. The hedge-school mentality of Batt O’Keeffe and the Government has no place in an Ireland where special needs children have an absolute right to support from teachers, SNA’s and other staff and resources.”

Press Release - Cynical Attacks on Special Needs Kids Should be Reversed - Looney

Cynical Attacks on Special Needs Kids Should be Reversed - Looney

Dermot Looney, the Labour Party candidate in the new Tallaght Central ward in June's local elections, has called for special needs class cuts targeting local schools to be reversed. Greenhills-based Looney, a primary school teacher who works in Tallaght, was commenting in the wake of another savage week of cutbacks in education, with almost 120 schools hit by the effective closure of special classes and withdrawal of support for special needs children.

The schools in the Tallaght Central ward affected are:

- St Peter’s BNS, Limekiln Road, Greenhills;

- St Mary’s School, Greenhills Road, Tallaght Village;

- St Paul’s GNS (Senior), Limekiln Lane, Greenhills;

- Scoil Nmh Aengusa (Sinsear), Balrothery;

- St Mark’s Senior NS, Springfield

· each of which will lose 1 special class

- St Brigid's NS, Brookfield;

- St Aidan's NS, Brookfield;

- St Anne’s Primary School, Fettercairn

· each of which will lose 2 classes.

Looney, 26, has launched a petition locally to Minister O'Keeffe aimed at reversing the cuts.

"It is no coincidence that the majority of these are in working-class communities and areas of socio-economic disadvantage," noted Looney. "This really is the lowest of the low from this clueless government who are putting their banking buddies and developer donors ahead of the most needy. The sickening excuse that the policy is to mainstream these pupils is nothing but nonsense – mainstreaming should only take place when children are ready."

"The trend in recent years has been to accommodate children with learning disabilities in mainstream schools, with much of the old 'special school' infrastructure being dismantled. If the replacement infrastructure in mainstream schools is itself now being dismantled, that means that these children are being left high and dry. Services for kids with special needs have come under sustained attack in recent years, with many local schools already suffering from severe cutbacks in Special Needs Assistants numbers."

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