How best to ensure special needs kids get proper support?

Re: Limits on special- needs students are discriminatory: minister, Feb. 20

Kudos to Education Minister George Abbott. He’s absolutely right that legislated limits on students with special needs in K- 12 classrooms are discriminatory.

Parent groups were united in opposing the class composition limits introduced in 2006. They have proved unworkable, failing to help students or teachers while creating nightmares for administrators.

The solution to unmanageable classes is not discriminatory quotas but better support for teaching and learning that addresses the realities of today’s diverse classrooms.

That means broader training for teachers, restoring learning supports eroded by a decade of provincial underfunding, flexible models that adapt to needs, and appropriate use of technology and innovation to help all students overcome learning barriers without expecting teachers to be superheroes.

Time for the province and the teachers union to stop posturing and put students first by immediately reinvesting in learning supports and training, addressing gaps in teacher certification standards and supporting new multi- stakeholder frameworks for constructive and collaborative problem solving. DAWN STEELE Vancouver

Minister of Education George Abbott addressed superintendents on the weekend and stated that his own government’s law, which amended the School Act in 2006, is discriminatory.

The School Act states there is a limit of three students with individual education plans ( IEPS) per class.

This has led to a false assumption that there is actually a limit.

Last year, there were 12,240 classes with more than three students with IEPS. Without limits, there are no guaranteed levels of support for students with special needs.

To allege that the School Act is discriminatory is a desperate attempt by Mr. Abbott to legitimize further cuts to public education.

Even more shocking is that superintendents applauded. KIP WOOD Nanaimo