From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Jun 9 22:02:16 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Wed Jun 10 02:04:11 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] School Interrupted: articles in Toronto Star Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090609220202.03efe2c0@ncf.ca> http://www.thestar.com/suspend thestar.com Toronto Star News SPECIAL REPORT Video: Expulsion School [Photo] Sandro Contenta and Jim Rankin document life inside a Toronto District School Board program for expelled students, who must prove themselves in order to return to "normal" school. [Photo] JIM RANKIN/TORONTO STAR Are schools too quick to suspend? Sandro Contenta Jim Rankin Jun. 08, 2009 The road to being thrown out of school is paved by missed opportunities for early intervention, a limited curriculum and poor teacher training. [Photo] Expulsion class gives students another chance Sandro Contenta Jim Rankin Jun. 07, 2009 The Star had unprecedented access to the Toronto District School Board's long-term support programs for expelled students, recently spending a week with students. Their names have been changed because some ... [Photo] Suspended sentences: Forging a school-to-prison ... Sandro Contenta Jim Rankin Jun. 06, 2009 Thousands of students are kicked out of Ontario schools each year, with educators quietly making sure some don't return. Further reading [Photo] A partial list of reports, documents and resources that we used to help develop the School Interrupted series. Search schools [Photo] Use ParentCentral's Search Centre to find out more about schools in your area, including EQAO test score results. Crime & Punishment [Photo] Stories, videos and documents from our 2008 Crime & Punishment series on rates and costs of incarceration, with updated searchable data by postal code. Rules of disengagement Jun. 06, 2009 Discipline options available to Ontario schools Why did Matthew miss 39 days of school? Andrea Gordon Apr. 25, 2009 Grade 7 has been a banner year for 12-year-old Matthew Leaton. His project on earthquakes was a winner of the science fair at his Brampton middle school. Parents can have option to bring in the lawyers Andrea Gordon Apr. 25, 2009 If your child is struggling in school, a lawyer probably isn't the first person you think of. But legal experts at the Child Advocacy Project want parents to know that even the youngest students have rights. JAIL DATA * Postal Code * Area * Rankings Related features Interactive game: You be the principal Map: Schools in areas of high incarceration Related series: Crime & Punishment Related Links 2008 Safe Schools report (PDF) Roots of Youth Violence report (PDF) inistry of Education Ontario suspension & expulsion stats More resources -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090609/ccea8b69/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 09:10:54 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 13:16:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Group home under review: Alberta Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614091045.04b8a018@ncf.ca> "...Children are placed in Bosco Homes when they need more support than a foster home can give them, often for a series of complex problems that could include suicidal tendencies, a history of abuse, anger management issues or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder...." Group home under review; Double murder prompts premier to seek answers surrounding teens' escape Alexandra Zabjek, and Darcy Henton Elise Stolte. Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alta.: Jun 5, 2009. pg. A.1 Premier Ed Stelmach wants a review of an Edmonton-area group home from where two teens now accused in a double murder apparently snuck away this week. "It is a serious matter, tragic, there's two lives lost," Stelmach said Thursday outside the legislature. "This is something that is tragic and we'll review it in terms of the circumstances." The province also announced a public meeting will be held to address concerns about the Bosco Homes facility. Two children fled the home last Sunday. Police found them eight or nine hours later, when they turned up driving a stolen vehicle in Edmonton. One of the 14-year-old boys has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Baldur (Barry) Boenke, 68, the truck's owner, and Susan Trudel, 50, a tenant on Boenke's property. The other 14-year-old has been charged with being an accessory after the fact. Police are calling the killings a "random" attack. Neighbours have been complaining about runaways from the group home for years, Strathcona County resident Jim Stephens said. "Something's wrong, something's broken, and we've known it's been broken for a while," he said. Children run away from the facility more than 200 times a year, said Bosco Homes executive director Gus Rozycki. That includes cases of one child running away repeatedly. The residential treatment facility, which is not fenced, has room for 59 children. "We are always plucking kids from the bush and taking them back," said Patty Beatty, who wrote the province to oppose expansion at the home in 1993. "I always thought it would be one of the kids who ended up being killed (while running away)." Strathcona County hosted a meeting with RCMP, provincial Children and Youth Services, and Edmonton and Area Child and Family Services on Thursday, and agreed to establish a working group to address community concerns. Children are placed in Bosco Homes when they need more support than a foster home can give them, often for a series of complex problems that could include suicidal tendencies, a history of abuse, anger management issues or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The 50-hectare property, called an intensive treatment centre on its website, includes a school, and has a nurse and four psychologists. The province has more secure options available for children in care, some where they are watched around the clock, but can only use them if the child poses an immediate risk to themselves or others, said Adam Holms, spokesman for Edmonton and Area Child and Family Services. Children's Services can place troubled kids in secure facilities for only five days before workers need a court order. A judge can write an order for another five days, then a second order for up to 20 days, Holms said. After that another solution, such as a hospital, must be found. The children are not criminals, he said. "I don't know if fences are the right answer." John Mould, a children's advocate who regularly visits Bosco Homes, said part of the problem is that community members have no opportunity to get to know the children, and many people see all of them as juvenile offenders. "It would be better if these kids were more known to all of us. If they were less anonymous," he said. But "if I had the idea how, I would be doing it. "Being in care is like being invisible." On Wednesday, NDP MLA Rachel Notley called for a public inquiry into the foster-care system. estolte@thejournal.canwest.com Credit: Elise Stolte, with files from Ben Gelinas, Florence Loyie,; The Edmonton Journal; with files from Global News [Illustration] Colour Photo: Supplied / Murder victim Susan Trudel, 50 ;; Caption: -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/089932d0/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 09:12:51 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 13:16:21 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Alcohol use low in moms-to-be, higher after birth Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614091243.064c0560@ncf.ca> http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2009/05/26/eline/links/20090526elin011.html Alcohol use low in moms-to-be, higher after birth Last Updated: 2009-05-26 16:06:16 -0400 (Reuters Health) NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new report provides both encouraging and discouraging data regarding the use of alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs by pregnant women and new mothers, according to a statement from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to national survey data, most women are paying attention to warnings about the dangers that substance use during pregnancy can pose to the developing fetus -- and are avoiding harmful substances during pregnancy. However, many new mothers go back to alcohol, cigarettes and illicit drugs soon after they give birth. "Alcohol, cigarettes, and illicit drug use during pregnancy can cause poor pregnancy outcomes and early childhood behavioral and development problems, and use after pregnancy exposed children to a variety of negative effects. These problems can limit a child's potential, are costly and 100 percent preventable," said SAMHSA's Acting Administrator Eric Broderick. The new SAMHSA data stem from national surveys on drug use and health collected from 2002 through 2007 involving a nationally representative sample of 113,000 women ages 18 to 44 years, about 6,000 of whom were pregnant at the time of the surveys. The combined data indicate that past month alcohol use was highest for women who were not pregnant and did not have children living in the household (63.0 percent) but comparatively low for women in the first three months of pregnancy (19.0 percent), and even lower for those in the second trimester (7.8 percent) or third trimester (6.2 percent). Similar patterns were seen for marijuana, cigarette and binge alcohol use. Binge drinking is defined as having five or more drinks at one time or within a few hours at least one day in the last 30 days. According to the survey data, many women quickly return to alcohol, cigarette and illicit drug use following childbirth. For example, marijuana use was higher among recent mothers with children younger than 3 months old in the household (3.8 percent) than for women in the third trimester of pregnancy (1.4 percent), "suggesting the resumption of use among many mothers in the first 3 months after childbirth." Effective interventions to reduce substance use during and after pregnancy could improve the health and well-being of infants and new mothers, the SAMHSA report concludes. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/4a70c54d/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 09:13:56 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 13:16:25 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Specific genetic cause of fetal alcohol-related developmental disorders found Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090612224031.03574b58@ncf.ca> http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2009/06/10/specific_genetic_cause_of_fetal_alcoholrelated_developmental_disorders_found.html Biology News Net Specific genetic cause of fetal alcohol-related developmental disorders found June 10, 2009 05:54 PM Health & Medicine Alcohol consumption by pregnant women hinders brain development in their children by interfering with the genetic processes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain, a new animal study found. Results will be presented Wednesday at The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Fetal alcohol exposure?even from moderate drinking during pregnancy?can cause neurodevelopmental disorders, such as emotional behavioral disorders and deficits in learning, memory and speech. There is currently no treatment for these problems, said the author who will present the study results, Laura Sittig, a student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Past animal research shows that some of these lasting cognitive impairments occur because alcohol consumption during pregnancy decreases the level of maternal thyroid hormones and, therefore, fetal thyroid hormones. "Specific concentrations of thyroid hormones must be available in the fetal brain to support normal neurological development," Sittig said. One of the enzymes that control thyroid hormone levels in the fetal brain is the iodothyronine deiodinase type III, or Dio3, she explained. Sittig and her colleagues hypothesized that alcohol exposure in the womb leads to cognitive impairments by inducing epigenetic alterations?changes to DNA that do not alter the actual DNA sequence?of developmental genes like Dio3 in the fetal brain. To investigate this hypothesis, they used rats to model moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated that fetal alcohol exposure disrupts the epigenetic "imprinting" of Dio3. In this process, Dio3 normally originates from the father's gene, while the maternal gene is silenced by epigenetic control. But alcohol exposure changes the paternal-maternal dosage of Dio3, which increases the amount of the enzyme present in specific brain regions of the fetus, the authors found. This increase, in turn, reduces the availability of vital thyroid hormones in the parts of the brain that control learning, memory and emotional behaviors. "In light of our current finding, we can begin testing specific dietary supplements that could reverse the epigenetic alterations that disrupt the regulation of Dio3," Sittig said. "When given to the mother or newborn, this might correct the imprinting deficits induced by alcohol." "This is a promising avenue to improve the prognosis of alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders, for which we currently have no intervention strategy," she said. Source : The Endocrine Society -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/449ba12a/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 09:26:35 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 13:28:10 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Business crowd hears Kelowna needs community court to deal with drug users Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614092624.065ad308@ncf.ca> "...Many chronic offenders and drug users suffer from mental illness, the effects of personal trauma, homelessness and fetal alcohol syndrome..." Business crowd hears Kelowna needs community court to deal with drug users RON SEYMOUR. The Canadian Press. Toronto: Jun 11, 2009. KELOWNA, B.C. _ Kelowna needs to establish a community court so drug users can get the rehabilitation and treatment they need, says the executive director of the John Howard Society's B.C. branch. Craig Jones told a chamber of commerce luncheon that putting such offenders in prison can cause more social problems than it solves. Many chronic offenders and drug users suffer from mental illness, the effects of personal trauma, homelessness and fetal alcohol syndrome, he said. Incarcerating them ``adds injury to what is already a deeply injured person.'' Canada's first community court opened last September in Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside. It's designed to target poverty, homelessness and drug addiction that fuels crime in the city's core by providing mental-health treatment and social housing programs. After Jones spoke, Kelowna chamber of commerce president Weldon LeBlanc said the organization's official position is that drug use should continue to be criminalized. Craig cited the example of the U.S., where drug use rates haven't declined despite the world's highest incarceration rates. He said that in Portugal, drug use and related crime has decreased after that country moved to decriminalize drug use in 2001. (Kelowna Daily Courier) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/2aebf30d/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 10:19:37 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 14:22:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Two-tier system evolving for special ed: Ontario Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614101851.048191e0@ncf.ca> http://www.thestar.com/article/648204 Toronto Star TheStar.com - Education Two-tier system evolving for special ed Cash-strapped, cookie-cutter public system failing kids with high needs, say private educators June 13, 2009 Andrea Gordon Family issues reporter [PHoto] VINCE TALOTTA/TORONTO STAR Samantha Miller, right, and Iona Moeller are students at YMCA Academy, a small independent high school in Toronto. Sammy Miller always had quick reflexes on the infield, a decent hockey shot and a knack for computers. In the classroom, things didn't come as easily. During grade school, she struggled to read and was quick to give up. She didn't feel she fit in. In Grade 9, Miller's parents enrolled her in YMCA Academy, a small independent high school in Toronto for teens with learning disabilities or learning styles that aren't suited to traditional high schools. "At the beginning, I used to doubt myself every five seconds," says Miller, now 18. "I argued with the teachers that `I can't.' But they wanted to help, and believed in me and that I could do better." Today the teenager gobbles up fiction and writes short stories. She understands her strengths, her own learning style and how to advocate for herself. In September, she heads to Fanshawe College in London, Ont., to study multimedia design and production. The small environment made a big difference, Miller says. There were 47 students at the academy this year, a staff of 15 and the school is on one floor of an office building. "You don't get lost." People notice if you're absent for a day. There's no stigma about using assistive technology to help with note taking, reading or writing because everyone has a laptop and software. Miller says her peers understand what it's like to struggle; teachers are interested in more than academics. "There is always somebody willing to help and talk to you." YMCA Academy is among a handful of private schools and tutoring services in Ontario trying to address a widening gap in the public school system ? special education services for students who learn differently, have learning or attention problems or other special needs. Growing demand for special ed, lack of teacher training and a funding shortage have left many kids floundering in the public system as they wait for supports and services they are entitled to. As a result, families who can afford to do so often turn to private schools that offer small classrooms and alternative learning environments, or others aimed specifically at special-needs students. YMCA Academy, launched in 2003 with five Grade 9 students and four staff, costs roughly $14,000 a year. Subsidies geared to income are available and are currently provided to 30 per cent of students. Schools for special needs students typically have annual fees of more than $20,000. Advocates say while they don't blame parents for doing whatever it takes to help their kids learn, the privatization of special ed services is a worrisome trend. "It's definitely a concern," says Judy Kerr, executive director of the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada. "A two-tiered system is being developed in Canada; you can look around and see it... but the cost is still prohibitive to most parents." Erika Shaker, director of the education project with the Ottawa-based research group the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says it's bad for everyone when families feel they have to pull out students "who pose a challenge to the system." For her, the answer is not diverting those kids but in strengthening the public system with more funding, shifting away from the focus on standardized testing and a one-size-fits-all approach, and a commitment to addressing a range of learning styles. Tony Pontes, superintendent of staff development and school support services at the Peel District School Board, says special ed in Ontario is "incredibly under funded." As an example, the Peel Board spent $10 million beyond its special ed envelope last year, diverting funds from other areas to try and meet the demand. Pontes says another 500 teaching assistants are needed to help students with autism and other special needs. Providers of private services feel they may be the best hope for many students. Merle Levine was among the first to start a school for kids with learning and attention disorders when she launched the Merle L. Levine Academy 35 years ago. For $22,000 a year, the North York school can take up to 80 students from Grade 2 through high school. It is a "catch-up school" aimed identifying the root of a child's learning problems and re-teaching the fundamentals in a way they can grasp, says Levine. The goal is that they're equipped to return to a mainstream school after two or three years. Levine says "there's nothing magical" about the formula of innovative teaching, engaging all of a child's senses and individual attention. But it's one the public system can't provide to many of its students without a lot more money and teacher training. Effective special ed is so costly, she adds, that many independent schools have moved away from that target group to focus on regular programming, with additional supports available for students in need. Barbara Bierman, executive director of the Ontario Federation of Independent Schools, says parents often turn to private schools fearing the public system can't respond quickly enough to their child's learning difficulties. "They want their kids assessed and treated fast." In the public schools, parents often have to fight for and wait for teaching aides and assistive technology. Even if parents can afford it, they are not permitted to hire an aide themselves and aren't supposed to supply their own laptops or software. Bierman says research shows student achievement improves with individual attention, parent involvement and constant communication between school and home. Schools like YMCA Academy make that part of their strategy. Angeline Sarabura is the secretary of Spectra, a network of special ed schools and organizations. She founded the Gregory School in Ancaster six years ago for kids with autism and other special needs and says many parents choose schools like hers so they can hire aides or "shadows" for their kids, even though it can cost at least $30,000 a year on top of tuition. At the YMCA Academy, school head Jim Milligan says the goal is to help students reach their potential ? as learners and as people ? by taking a holistic approach to education. The school offers the applied level Ontario curriculum to prepare them for community college, the workplace and apprenticeships, and provides Individual Education Plans tailored to each student's learning style. They learn life skills for job-hunting and living on their own. Hands-on learning takes place in the science lab, at sewing machines in the fashion classroom, on the basketball court or in the pool at the nearby Metro YMCA. Membership in the fitness facility is included in tuition. Since the first students graduated two years ago, youth have gone on to train as chefs, plumbers, hairstylists and in multimedia. Milligan says education should be about more than curriculum, credits and academic achievement. At the academy, instead of awards for best math or English marks, each year students vote for six peers who demonstrate core values of the YMCA ? honesty, respect, responsibility, health, inclusiveness and caring. Every student needs to feel they matter ? to each other and to their teachers ? and have their particular strengths and gifts recognized and encouraged, he says. "I think what we're offering is a different way of thinking about education and relationships." It's a philosophy that has made a world of difference for Miller. Her graduation this month is bound to be an event filled with pride and promise. But in some ways it will be bittersweet. Teachers and friends at the school have helped her so much, she says, that sometimes, "I actually don't want to leave." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/394855cc/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 10:19:53 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 14:22:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] Suspensions and behaviour problems Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614101903.048191e0@ncf.ca> [See especially the letter by Janis Jaffe-White and Reva Schafer below] http://www.thestar.com/article/650159 Toronto Star LETTER TO THE EDITOR TheStar.com | Opinion Suspensions and behaviour problems Jun 13, 2009 04:30 AM Re: School, Interrupted, Series June 6-8 [Photo] JIM RANKIN/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO School staff walk a suspended student to the edge of school property. Three-part series provoked a lively debate. Print Bay St. lawyer Glenn Stuart says that many students are suspended simply for opposing authority. How are schools supposed to function without authority? In recent years, there has been an increase in behavioural issues even at the elementary school level. Without authority, simple routines cannot be enforced and the whole day is spent just trying to get students to take out their work, sit still or stop talking. When so much time is spent on behavioural issues, the education of the majority of the students suffers. If I was the parent of a child with a respectful attitude and a desire to learn, I would be begging for more suspensions. Several of my students come to school clearly never having heard the word "no" at home. Even if these children are dealt with using all the behavioural techniques we know, they take hours away from other students. This is disheartening for well-behaved children and grossly unfair to the academically needy children. In my class this year, I have had a student threaten and attack a classmate at recess and parents yell at me when I phone them to discuss behaviour problems ? this is a Grade 2 classroom. Progressive discipline is used; suspensions are not the first step in discipline. Teachers meet with parents and social workers and educational resource teachers to try to assist needy students. Suspensions are a wake-up call to the parents that their child's attitude and behaviour problems are serious. Mary Lannan, Unionville In one of your June 8 "case studies," you characterized the physical assault of a teacher by two students as a "belly bump." The alliteration makes it sound like a harmless and funny incident, but by your own description, it was a co-ordinated physical assault by more than one student against a teacher for the trivial purpose of getting their hats back sooner rather than later. Two students pressed their bodies against a teacher, one from in front and the other from behind. When does no mean no? And what would Mr. Justice Paul Bellefontaine, who acquitted one of the students, have ruled if it had been two teachers "belly bumping" a student? Vivian Payne, Toronto Your series provides fodder for thought, change and growth. Unfortunately, based on the reader comments online, rather than bringing the community together to work in partnership to solve the problems in the best interests of children, many preferred playing the blame game by pointing fingers at others. Nothing can change without respectful communication between all parties involved in the education of our future citizens. Rather than blaming parents, teachers, systems, etc., let's work together and take action to promote positive change for our children. This series can act as a catalyst for respectful dialogue, collaborative problem-solving and positive change. It does take a village to raise a child. Janis Jaffe-White and Reva Schafer, Toronto Family Network I find it interesting that the mother in the case study would say that it seems as if the school does not care about "the child." In suspending a student for gun violence and smoking weed, the school is protecting the hundreds of students who were not involved in firing a weapon and whose safety was at risk. We need intervention as young as Grade 1 and to call parents to task. No one wants to say it, but a lot of these behaviours are the result of lack of parental involvement in their child's education and lack of parents acknowledging that their child has a behaviourial problem. Why do teachers need more "crisis management" training? Who will be watching the other 30 students in a classroom while the teacher is again absent for training and constantly crisis managing the same students over and over? Stacey Farrell Bangerter, Milton Based on ministry statistics, the TDSB has a total suspension and expulsion rate of 3.77 per cent. What about the rights of the remaining 96.23 per cent? This majority of students and staff have the right to be on school property, attend classes and participate in extra-curricular activities to receive and deliver an education in a safe, non-threatening, non-disruptive environment free from drugs and weapons. Those miscreants who disrupt, threaten, harass and generally impede the learning-teaching process should be suspended and expelled. I do support special education, withdrawal classes and programs for special needs students, but when the suspension line is crossed, you are gone. Richard Phillips, Cambridge We agree with the observation that some behaviour problems begin early in elementary school when students, mostly boys, never properly learn to read. While acknowledging suspensions and expulsions are complex issues, perhaps more than a few behaviour problems could be prevented by focusing on teaching literacy and numeracy in more effective ways. Doretta Wilson, Executive Director, Society for Quality Education, Toronto [] Advertisement -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/2cd6be49/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Sun Jun 14 10:20:31 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Sun Jun 14 14:22:17 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] More voices on school suspensions Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090614102022.048188e8@ncf.ca> http://www.thestar.com/article/649522 Toronto Star TheStar.com - Opinion More voices on school suspensions June 13, 2009 As a high school teacher who cares a great deal for her students, I agree that students should not be excluded indefinitely from the school system. This is a serious problem with long-range repercussions. However, blaming principals and teachers for wanting to find ways to keep seriously disruptive students out of their schools gets us nowhere. If we're to deal with such students within the regular school system, then we have to have the funding, the resources and the training to do it. I am a teacher, not a social worker, psychologist, cop, or a hall monitor. My job is to teach and mentor students within my classroom. While that covers a broad range of functions, it should not require me to constantly deal with apathetic, rude, violent, out-of-control students who disrupt all efforts to carry out my job, and consequently, the other students' educational experience. The obvious and common-sense solution must be in the form of preventative services to provide such students with help at the front end, from when they are born, by supporting new parents to do their job effectively, by using multiple services to recognize at-risk students right from the start and by giving those students the help they need in kindergarten instead of waiting until all hell breaks loose and then trying to undo the damage built up throughout their lives. We absolutely must recognize and deal with the irrefutable fact that most of these problems are based on social-class issues that are systemic throughout our society and can only be mitigated through systemic measures. It's no wonder that some expelled students in alternative programs prefer to stay in those programs rather than return to their regular school. That's where they can get what they needed from the start. The classes are small, the teachers are trained, and the students can get the help and attention they require and have a right to. Why am I expected to provide that kind of service in a class of 30 or 35 students? How can I do that? Even if I could, the students we are talking about are, more often than not, absent from classes in the first place and haven't completed even a fraction of the assigned schoolwork. While it is the job of youth workers and lawyers to advocate for their clients, these advocates do the youth they support a disservice by blaming staff and administration. We always want to blame individuals so we don't have to deal with the complex realities. As long as we continue to blinker ourselves from confronting these complexities and refuse to commit the resources needed for early prevention, all the blame in the world will leave us in exactly the same position: working in an ineffective, inequitable and crumbling system. Until we are prepared to analyze the situation as systemic, part of the whole picture, we can not and will not make much headway in living up to the legal and moral requirement of providing all young people with a good education and a better chance to live a rich and rewarding life. Vera Szoke, Toronto As a retired teacher from Toronto let me relate one incident. I had in one class a student who boasted that he was the student who "torched" a girl in another class. As I worked in the guidance office, located near the main office, as well as working as a classroom teacher I was surprised by these boastful proclamations freely given by a very proud student. I looked at the student's official record folder and found no indications of suspension or any discipline related to such an event. I went to the teacher of the class where this reported incident happened and the teacher confirmed that indeed the student had set on fire another student in the classroom. To avoid any bad publicity and any paper trail, the mother of the injured student, who was a recent immigrant, was advised to take her daughter home for the day but to have her back at school the following day. No suspension. No discipline. No paper trail. No call to the police. In fact it never happened ? officially. So when some students were suspended "for persistent opposition to authority," it was understood that the real reason had to be quite serious indeed (the victim ? she suffered loss of a lot of hair but suffered no major skin burns). Phil Little, Ladysmith, B.C. I am a teacher at an expulsion program similar to the one of observed in this series of articles. I have few comments about the articles. Your June 6 article states "some suspensions, meant to be brief, are lasting months," then goes on the describe the situation of the Scarborough student whose parents chose to keep him at home while they contested the suspension. This student would have been offered the opportunity to attend one of these programs and his parents chose not to take advantage of that offer. Was this in the best interest of their child? No. They could still have contested the suspension while their child attended the program. This situation indicates, contrary to what the authors have eluded to, that the school board is not necessarily at fault when the student ends up being out of school for an extended time period. The article also mentions the failure of the system to "treat problems early". Many of the problems these students have are deep-seeded and can not be fixed by the school system alone. These problems have arisen from a variety of conditions and situations, such as broken homes, abuse, parents working 24-7 to make ends meet, gang-influences, poverty, peer pressure, mental illness, the list goes on. We should be addressing these issues collectively as a community, not shifting the blame on the school system. Your June 7 article: The reason cited for Smiley's expulsion is fighting resulting in an assault charge. He considers his punishment harsh. However the readers of the article are not privy to the details, to the extent to which the fight went, was Smiley provoked, was he bullied or was he bullying another student, was this an ongoing issue between the students involved. Readers are also unaware the status of the victim(s), whether they need medical attention or not. Youth today are often desensitized to violence. It's everywhere, in the media, in their communities, in video games, on television and in movies. It makes sense that they may not understand the severity of their behaviour. For some young people "banging," or beating someone up, is a normal everyday occurrence. They don't seem to give it a second thought. Perhaps the authors should interview some of the victims as well. Your June 8 article states that "the road to being thrown out of school is paved by missed opportunities for early intervention, a limited curriculum and poor teacher training." While I do agree that students sometimes fall through the cracks of the system, the system is not always to blame. Educators and support staff often see early signs of troublesome behaviours and make honest attempts toward addressing these behaviours. However, often it is the parents who are resistant to the interventions and services offered. As the article states, some of the students who get suspended/expelled have been formally identified as have learning disabilities or behaviour disorders, but there are also those who have not been formally identified as special needs, even though they clearly should be. Why is this? More oft than not it is the parents who have insisted that there is their child is no different than the average student, despite evidence supporting the special needs of their child. Some parents feel there is a stigma associated with having a child with special needs and refuse to allow the school board to perform the testing that would result in the child qualifying for the additional resources that will enable them to be more successful. As a result, the troublesome behaviours, due to boredom, anger, frustration, etc. continue to compound. As for the road being paved by "poor teacher training," are the authors trained teachers? Teachers are trained to teach. We are not child and youth workers, or social workers or psychologists. We try our best to meet the needs of our students but students are also dealing with issues outside of our expertise. This is where these other supports come in. I am unsure what the authors mean when they say "poor teacher training." Would they like teachers to also be trained as social workers? Or psychologists? We are teachers, not miracle workers. As for Bay St. lawyer Glenn Stuart, perhaps he should spend a day or two in secondary school asking students repeatedly to remove their hats, or to get to class. Simple requests that every student should be expected to comply with, however some students believe that they are above the rules and think nothing of telling a teacher or hall monitor to "f--- off." In any workplace environment this would be unacceptable, so why does Mr. Stuart think that it should be tolerated by teachers? Perhaps he would have a different tune if he was the teacher in the middle of the "belly-bump sandwich." As a fairly small female teacher, most of the students are larger than me, it makes me feel safe knowing that actions such as the "belly-bump," an incident which has been trivialized in this article, will be addressed with appropriate disciplinary action. Students need to be held accountable for their actions. What's next for these two "belly-bumpers," throwing a punch, pulling a knife? It happens. Victims of violent behaviour in schools can be students, teachers, administrators and any other school staff. Young people need to learn what is socially acceptable behaviour and what is not. Without rules, expectations, boundaries and some level of conformity, schools would be a free-for-all. Society has rules and expectations for its citizens, why should schools be any different? Finally, there is no mention in the article of students from affluent homes being suspended and expelled. The focus is on the at-risk, repeat offenders. Do these upper/middle class students not get into trouble? Sure they do. Can they present a safety hazard to their fellow students or to school staff? Of course they can. I taught a few courses for a private school in Toronto and had a student from a very wealthy family threaten me because I would not change his mark from the 94 per cent he earned to the 97 per cent he wanted. It's not just the at-risk kids who display defiance and inappropriate unacceptable behaviours. Lynn Abrahams, North York Students who are suspended or expelled are "not particularly well served by the system." As a teacher who has taught for 19 full-time years, it has been painfully boring to be in some classrooms. I can thus understand why kids are "opposing authority." Bored kids get into trouble. As a supply teacher, I've been obliged to distribute hum-drum; ho-hum (make me yawn) work, that has been left by absent teachers. Students have been expected to: copy endless notes from an overheard projector for the duration of an entire high school period; watch a Shakespearean movie again and again; listen to scratchy cassettes of a play that can barely be heard at the back of the class; and answer pages and pages of monotonous questions about a short story, a novel, a play, a movie. Such busy work is enough to make any child bored. As an adult, I was terribly bored in such a learning environment. Bored students will certainly misbehave, which unfortunately leads to suspensions and high school drop outs. I've watched kids painfully trying to complete their hum-drum assignments; thus feeling terribly sorry for those kids. Busy-work assignments only lead to behavior problems which could be avoided, if all students were actively engaged in "hands on learning" activities. I've noticed that the classes that do not have behavior problems are the ones where teachers make learning interesting and fun. Those are the teachers that are keeping learning alive; keeping kids in the classroom and out of trouble. Whenever I was teaching a behaviour class, years ago, I made the learning environment a place where kids were consistently stimulated. I had children who came from dysfunctional homes and other less than perfect circumstances within life. However, by providing a multitude of hands-on activities across the curriculum, my students didn't have time to get themselves into trouble. Attendance was high and kids felt good about themselves because they were not being sent to the office. They were not being suspended or expelled, which is a useless form of punishment. Kids need to be in school. How do we prevent kids from getting suspended, expelled, dropping out of school . . . it is simple. If kids are challenged by "hands on learning" approaches, they won't have time to get themselves into trouble. It's as simple as 1, 2, and 3 with zero behavior problems. Lenna Rhodes, Burlington It's nice to hear that many principals in the Toronto School Board are caring about their schools by expelling students for their inappropriate behaviour. Often the expelled students are a detriment to the learning environment of the school and the best place for these students is an expulsion program. Often these expelled students have been a danger to other students and even teachers at their schools. Students and teachers should not have to put up with students who constantly show disrespect for the rules and individuals in our schools. Classroom learning has to be a priority in our schools and students who constantly cause major problems need to go elsewhere for their "education." The comment about complaints by parents that "students from at-risk neighbourhoods and certain visible minority groups were being disproportionately suspended and expelled" makes no sense. I know from experience that expulsions only take place under exceptional circumstances and the background of students is not the reason for expulsions. It's the breaking of rules, poor behaviour, fighting, drug use etc. that leads to the suspensions and expulsions. Unfortunately in some areas students have more problems because of lack of parental responsiblilty or other issues but let's not imply they are being unfairly treated by the system. I know because I have taught for 36 years and most teachers and principals bend over backwards to help all students, but sometimes other steps need to be taken. It looks like the expelled students are getting a great chance for success at schools like Midland since they get extra individual help, which is not possible in regular schools. The only concern I have is with the academic requirement of needing to pass three out of four subjects in order to return to the regular school system. We as teachers know that hard work usually leads to passes but unfortunately some students cannot reach this goal even with strong work habits. Suspensions and expulsions are often necessary in our education system in order for the majority of the students to get the proper learning environment where safety and respect exists. Harry Huizer, St. Catharines Not surprisingly, the underlying issues that are marginalizing these children have gone unaddressed and not talked about in almost every single comment posted by a teacher or someone connected to the education system currently, or in the past (retired teachers). Like we find in our practice here in the Halton region, about 90 to 95 per cent of the students we see here do not have the critical reading/math skills heading into middle school, and will not be successful in high school to graduate. We are talking about the ability to decode letters to read words fluently enough to read with comprehension or to do basic math calculations with fluency. These are critical skills missed in every one of the kids you profiled (we would put money on it), they were not taught these skills to consolidation at the elementary level, they were flagged as "at risk students" way back in SK to Grade 2 or 3, but the system failed to provide the corrective, early intervention our government has researched and knows works best for these kids. We can also put money on the fact that if these kids were tested, they would be found to be cognitively able learners ? between average, bright and gifted in intelligence. They have a learning style that does not fit with our "narrow" model of delivery that excludes and marginalized hundreds of thousands of students across this country. They are what the Canadian education system is leaving behind, and with the new interpretation of our Safe Schools Act, it seems we are finding new ways to not be accountable for our systems' failure to teach them the three Rs in the first place. We are more than sweeping them under the carpet ? we are flushing their future and options down the toilet. All these bright kids who have been thrown away because they required extra time and effort to teach. These are the disposable byproducts of an education system that is not working ? not because teachers are not good at their job, but because our system of teaching is not working and no one wants to talk about this elephant in the middle of the room. The way we are delivering the curriculum no longer teaches critical core skills to consolidation so kids are pushed through to the next level ill-equipped to learn the next grade level of curriculum. This builds a very shaky foundation that quickly falls apart for all these kids. The ministry of education can bend their statistics any way they choose to make them look good at reporting time, Dalton McGuinty can call it what he likes and as often as he likes; however, those of us who work at the classroom level, forced to negotiate education planning for kids like the ones you have profiled, know the truth, and your articles have brought light to shine on a system that is failing our kids at all levels, regardless of social or economic status. Thank you for being such a bright light for all our kids! Cheryl Coates, Director, Parent Advocates 4 Struggling Students Inc. While one may have some sympathy for the plight of suspended students, the expression "Lying in one's own bed" comes to mind. What right do the other students at these schools have to enjoy an education that is unfettered by chronic disruption by these "special" students? We have special schools for other students in our society; it's time to build special schools for the chronic offenders. Maybe we'd even consider schools that deal out "tough love." Ooops, I forgot, this is Canada. Sorry. James E. Agnew, Whitby -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090614/7af5f8c5/attachment-0001.html From rosse at ncf.ca Tue Jun 16 10:45:52 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Tue Jun 16 14:52:14 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] FASD: Across the Lifespan, October '09 - Conference Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090616104502.046b4fa8@ncf.ca> Skipped content of type multipart/related-------------- next part -------------- From rosse at ncf.ca Wed Jun 17 22:35:07 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Jun 18 02:40:12 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] A positive outcome: FASD: Alberta Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090617223458.043f2ff0@ncf.ca> A positive outcome Judy Buddle. Edmonton Journal. Edmonton, Alta.: Jun 12, 2009. pg. A.19 We are parents of an adopted young lady with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, who was fortunate enough to be able to partake of the fine care at Bosco in Sherwood Park. The staff and administration were exceptional in their competence and compassion in caring for many troubled youths. Most of us have no idea what it is like to raise a disturbed child; and we tend to blame poor parenting, neglect, and abuse as reasons for these troubled kids. FASD is preventable. A biological mother who abuses drugs and/or alcohol while pregnant does irreversible harm, causing brain damage that cannot be cured. Cognition, reasoning, analytical and critical thinking, learning, remembering, estimating--all of these thought processes are not possible. Imagine having a child who cannot learn from experience, or cannot remember what he or she learned in school the day before, or someone who has no remorse for hurting another, or someone who has no conscience. This is what child-care workers must deal with at Bosco. Bosco is not a detention centre and, therefore, is not secure. The province should look at more facilities for youths with mental health issues. Certainly, foster and group homes should be enhanced. Some parents also need help getting counselling, psychiatric care and even medical care for their children. Bosco fulfils its mandate of helping troubled teens by providing special education, social workers, child psychiatrists and child-care workers, working with parents, to give their children a chance to succeed and learn proper behaviours and life skills. The deaths of these two people in Strathcona County are tragic and should be a wake-up call for the province that we need more facilities for those who need different strategies for learning, more intervention for mental illnesses in childhood, and easier access for parents who need help. Hopefully Bosco will continue to help our most vulnerable youth with more funding and more resources from the province. Judy Buddle, Edmonton Credit: Judy Buddle; Edmonton Journal -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090617/4e1613d1/attachment.html From rosse at ncf.ca Thu Jun 18 00:52:25 2009 From: rosse at ncf.ca (Elspeth Ross) Date: Thu Jun 18 04:52:13 2009 Subject: [Fasd_canadian_link] A matter of respect: B.C. secondary school alcohol & drug program Message-ID: <6.2.5.6.2.20090618005215.045bb738@ncf.ca> Interior-News.com Serving New Hazelton, Houston, Burns Lake & Smithers, British Columbia A matter of respect Published: June 17, 2009 8:00 AM [Photo] Bruce Robinson, with his daughter Giuliana, moved to the Bulkley Valley nearly five years ago. Robinson is accredited with designing the highly-successful alcohol and drug prevention program at Smithers Secondary. Rikki Schierer/The Interior News Originally taking courses at university to get into the legal profession, Bruce Robinson instead detoured into the human services sector, creating the Alcohol and Drug (A&D) program at Smithers Secondary from scratch to help abate the growing issue of substance abuse. "I've always been very proactive and liked the challenge," Robinson said. "I never wanted the same thing day in and day out." Moving to the Bulkley Valley with his family four-and-a-half years ago to be closer to family, Robinson quickly fell in love with the community and even more quickly being welcomed in by a friendly community, he said. He began working with the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder program in town, until two years ago when he was approached by Smithers Secondary to pilot a program to help them educate students and advocate a drug and alcohol-free lifestyle. Quickly initiating preventative measures, Robinson started confidential one-on-one counselling sessions, an after-school workout program, in class presentations, some informational booklets as well as working with teachers to help them know what to look for. "I enjoyed it," Robinson said. "I've been fortunate enough to have this ability to work with students and to build a relationship with them." Robinson credits the success of his program to respect. By treating the children with respect he was able to build a more trusting relationship with the students where they'd feel free to talk to him. Robinson also made sure that students realized that when they went to him the conversations they held would be in strict confidentiality, so that unless that student meant harm to themselves or another they could open up without worrying about who would know about it the next day. "It all boiled down to respect and positive mentorship," Robinson said. "A lot of students wouldn't open up if they thought you were going to go tell everyone." During the first year of the program, Robinson had seven students who were interested in the after-school workout program, however growing in popularity this past year the program had 37 participants. When he first started with the program he was asked what a workout program had to do with preventing the use of drugs and alcohol, but Robinson pointed out that the program not only gave the students something to do in their spare time (other than drugs and alcohol) it also created peer mentorship and it promoted a healthy lifestyle in general. Out of that team Robinson created a Sun Run team, bringing 14 students down to Vancouver to participate in the Vancouver Sun Run, an amazing feat Robinson said, considering that at the beginning of this program these students barely participated in the mandatory gym class. One of the biggest challenges, Robinson said, was not the work with the students but with getting everyone, students, teachers, and school board administrators on the same page with this program, to realize the importance that the program had, not just within the school but within the community. "I tried to make the most efficient, useful program out there," Robinson said. "I hope that this program continues, it's a very useful program." When the program first began, Robinson said that Smithers Secondary had 100 incidents with drugs and alcohol in that year, many of those being repeat offenders. As of mid-January, he said that the school had yet to experience one incident of substance abuse in the school. "I was quite pleased," Robinson said, "I based everything on the respect factor and that was probably the key to my success." While Robinson loved the work an opportunity came up for him to work with the child youth mental health program in Terrace, an opportunity he couldn't let go. Robinson began his new job early this spring and now spends his time working with youth in Terrace. Robinson is taking his experience from the A&D program and using it to help bridge the gap there. Respect is still his number one policy and so far he's enjoying the new challenge. "It was a wonderful opportunity to be at the ground level of a new program and to link with an extremely strong team," Robinson said, adding that though his new job may be in Terrace his home remains here in Smithers. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/fasd_canadian_link/attachments/20090618/8f6df130/attachment.html