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Special Needs chief 'shocked' in Inishowen 02.07.08

THE CHIEF executive of the National Council for Special Education Pat Curtin, met with parents from Inishowen yesterday to discuss the deepening crisis around the provision of special needs resources at Inishowen schools, and is understood to have promised meet with other parents from the peninsula to hear their stories.
Speaking to the Inishowen Independent, Elaine Clarke, one of four parents from the newly formed Special Needs Access Action Group (SNAAG) who met with Mr Curtin and his officials yesterday, suggested he had been ‘shocked at what he had heard.’
“There was a lot of talk about policy issues, but we finally got to put the parents concerns across,” said Elaine Clarke. “Mr Curtin is reviewing the cases we highlighted and he was shocked at what he heard. We certainly gave him something to think about.”
The meeting which lasted more than an hour and a half came just a fortnight after more than 300 people gathered at a public meeting in Ballyliffin to express their outrage at the withdrawal of Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) and reduction of assistance for children with special educational needs at schools across the peninsula.
Senator Cecilia Keaveney who attended yesterday’s meeting said there had been an open exchange of information that led to Pat Curtin offering to return to address a larger group of parents in September/October to discuss the role of the Special Education Needs Council.
“In the meantime he will be looking into the issues raised. Pat Curtin also said that if the reviews he carries out lead to results that we are not happy about then he will look to another process to evaluate whether Inishowen has equal treatment to the rest of the country.”
She added: “We all want to see the role of the special child central to the new council’s resource allocation. Parents, teachers, professionals of all sorts want to work together to give the special education students the best start in their primary and secondary school life. We are all agreed on this.”
School principals and representatives of boards of management also met with Mr. Curtin yesterday although those meetings are believed to have been held in private session.
The parents group SNAAG will hold a public meeting at the Strand Hotel in Ballyliffin next Monday, 7 July, at 8pm to report on the outcome of their meeting. (Story: Inishowen Independent)
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