Why Bridgeway matters - Tim's story

While the recent report from AIMS on the expansion of tuition support and Designated Special Education Private Schools like Bridgeway has received much media attention, the human stories about the impact Bridgeway has hasn't.  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.

I am writing in response to your interview with Paul Bennett of AIMS about his report recommending expansion of the Tuition Support Program.

First in the interest of transparency, I will tell you that I am the Vice Chair of the Equal Education Association Of Nova Scotia. Our group has long advocated the kind of changes that Mr. Bennett recommends in his report.

My letter is however, as a parent of a Learning Disabled Child, whose life was dramatically changed by the Tuition Support program. Our son Timothy has a severe Learning Disability. Learning disabilities are called the invisible disability because they are not readily apparent in the same way as someone in a wheelchair, and so often get overlooked. They also do not mean that the child is stupid, they affect individuals of average to above average intelligence, who just learn in a different way, and as such are able to be productive members of society if their disability is addressed in a proper way.

Our son’s learning disability was apparent before he started school. He received a tremendous level of support throughout elementary school. By the time he was in grade 5, he was in the SLD (Severe Learning Disability) program, receiving one on one instruction from a SLD teacher 3 times a week. He was also pulled out of class twice a day for learning centre, one on one in the morning and group in the afternoon. He was also assigned an EPA in the classroom for 4 hours per week. His principle at the time told us his extra supports were costing the school in the range of $25,000-30,000 per year over and above what it cost for basic classroom instruction.

 The supports that Timothy received were not very successful, and not very inclusive. He was spending more than half his school day outside the classroom and was seen as different or “special” by his peers. He once told me between tears, “ Dad, I don’t want to be special, I just want to be the same as everyone else.” At the end of grade 7 he was still only reading and writing at an early grade 1 level, fully 7 years behind. The school having exhausted its resources, pulled SLD support. He was to go into grade 8 with only limited resource support.

As parents we didn’t know what to do. If we kept Timothy in the public system, this extremely bright boy would probably drop out of school, and have little in his future other than a minimum wage job or social assistance. On the advice of his SLD teacher we applied for the TSP (Tuition Support Program).  Our application for the TSP was returned because we missed the February 15^th deadline by one week. We were determined that our son would have a future, so we bit the bullet remortgaged our home and enrolled Timothy in Bridgeway Academy.

This was a life changing decision. Timothy flourished at Bridgeway. It was an extremely inclusive environment, teaching Timothy in ways that he learned and being surrounded by others who learned the same way. He no longer felt different, he was recognized for the bright individual he was.

After his first year we applied again to the TSP program and received the transfer of the basic funding unit. This enabled Timothy to continue at Bridgeway until High School graduation. In June 2010, we saw a day that a few years before we thought was impossible, our son Timothy Graduated with honours in a regular academic program. Bridgeway made the impossible, possible.

Timothy is currently enrolled in the Pipe Trades program at NSCC and will be graduating in May as a Plumber/Pipefitter.  This extremely bright boy, who was abandoned by the public school system, was a Bronze Medalist in the 2011 Nova Scotia Skills Competition for skilled trades. Because of the Tuition Support Program and Bridgeway Academy, Timothy will be a successful contributing member of society. He will be working hard and paying taxes, instead of being supported by the public welfare system. This low cost program clearly pays off in big ways.

It is unfortunate that the Tuition Support Program is not available to everyone who needs it, in all areas of the province. Another concern is that the present government has capped it at a maximum of 4 years, rather than looking at how long the student really needs it. Learning Disabilities are lifelong, and many students enter the program more than 4 years behind.

This truly is a life-changing program. In a time of fiscal restraint the government should look hard at expanding this program that both delivers results and saves the taxpayers money.

Kevin Burrell