Fears held for future of school for disabled

Press, 7 September 1982, Page 6

Fears held for future of school for disabled

The parents of children at the Christchurch School for the Physically Disabled fear that the school will be abolished. The school committee believes that the Canterbury Education Board intends to abolish the school by integrating it with the Quinns Road School, an ordinary primary school on the same site. A survey of parents by the committee found that 28 out of 33 opposed the move. The committee’s chairman, Mr J. G. Mullins, said that he expected the board to disregard the parents’ wishes and abolish the . school. "In spite of the discussions we have bad with them we do not think they are taking any notice. “It is clear the board intends to abolish our school and the Quinns Road School and form one new school,’’ Mr Mullins said. The chairman of the Can-

terbury Education Board, Mr Dave Wilson, said yesterday that integration was the agreed aim when the school for the disabled moved to the Quinns Road site 15 months ago. A timetable for integrating the schools had since been worked out during discussions among the board and the school committees. “I believe agreement was reached on this," he said. The board had already resolved that the schools would have one principal, and that the two school committees be merged no later than April,- 1983. Mr Mullins said that no agreement had been reached. The committee had pre- , sented submissions opposing integration to the board, and it would consider them at its meeting this Friday.

In its submissions the committee said that the school needed to retain its inde-

pendence and identity to retain the support of benefactors. Integration would be impossible for some of the school’s pupils, and it was better if the school’s administration was geared specifically for disabled pupils. It was also better for the school's parents to have a school committee solely responsible for the disabled pupils, the committee said. Mr Mullins said that if the school for the disabled was absorbed into a larger primary school, it would lose its identity as a specialised facility in the city. Mr Wilson said that the committee's fears were unfounded. ■ "The school will always be recognised a? a school within a school," he said. It would suffer no loss of community support. The Quinns Road School committee was “very keen” on integration, he said.