How FRUSTRATING. Two things seem clear: 1) The decisions are being motivated by financial considerations, not pedagogical ones. Any "facts" presented to support their decisions are just window-dressing. 2) The meeting was for show. They never had any intention of taking feedback seriously or straying from their script.
Aquinas, you have my deep, fellow Canuck sympathy, from a region that has already severely cut its congregated classrooms, and continues to claim there is neither need nor demand (but has waiting lists. long waiting lists. Which we are told don't exist. Unless you're on one - but then you are never actually told that you are, since they don't exist.)
MegMeg, I wish it was only about money. You can work with financial facts. And frankly, there's no reason for congregated classes to be much more expensive than the regular kinds, at least the way they are delivered around here.
But we are dealing with ideology. Inclusion at all costs. Nothing else is equitable. And of course, inclusion is the perfect solution, since there are no costs, for anybody. Internal board "research" says so. Everything is awesome... (Sure they only site one source, and it's a consultant paid by the board. What's your point?)
Frankly, it feels a little Orwellian at times: if we say it often enough, it will become true. Because we want it to be.
The inclusion philosophy hurts lots of kids - we have huge waiting lists for LD classrooms too, and I was laughed at when I asked if this was an option for DD. But there is an additional, and occasionally rather vicious anti-gifted streak that runs through the mountains of disturbing papers I have managed to unearth from our Board on the discussions about spec ed in our region (gifted is spec ed in Canada). The focus of *all* Board analysis is about out-of-control lobbying parents who are hothousing their kids and demanding special privileges. Privileges that directly take away from deserving, good kids with *real* needs. Gifted is elitist, unnecessary, undeserved, and serves only to feed the egos of parents who already have too much money and privilege.
It's not a pretty dynamic. There's very little you can do to promote rational discourse in this environment.
Oh dear. That was a bit of a rant. Apparently that sore spot is still a wee bit raw. Apologies for the soap box!
