Nov 17, 2024, Laois Nationalist: Crisis in secondary schools in Laois for special needs students say parents and teachers
PARENTS of children with special needs in Laois are at their wits end and are frantically trying to find a place for them next September due to the severe shortage of Secondary School ASD places.
To compound matters and due to the huge demand for places, the recently built Saint Francis Special School in Portlaoise submitted an application to the Department of Education for two additional classrooms, while an additional building was being built on the school grounds, but the application was turned down.
Saint Francis school principal John Moran said: “We received a letter from the Department of Education refusing our application for those additional classrooms. We are currently working with 19 classes, though we are just meant to have 12.
“However, instead of giving us more room, they want us to reduce three classes. We currently have a waiting list of 45 so it doesn’t add up at all. We need the decision to refuse our application reviewed urgently and we need the new building fast tracked as we simply cannot wait until 2027. Our population has increased hugely since 2021 and using this year as a benchmark is completely unrealistic”. . . .
She said: “They want us to put our children in main stream schools, but many of them would not cope. It’s a disgrace. Children with special needs are the forgotten children as far as I can see. They just don’t give a f**k about them.” . . .
Ms Hand said it’s her understanding “that parents from as far away as Cork are enquiring about places for their children with autism in schools throughout Laois, such is the shortage of school places.”
Comments