disabilities

‘Unique’ school for deaf students plans $7-million expansion  

Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

It’s called the only school of its kind in North America, dedicated to giving francophone children with hearing and speech impairments a chance to get a normal education and have a fulfilling life.

The École Oraliste, located on Boul. René-Lévesque across the street from Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier, is a victim of its own success in providing specialized education for deaf children. 

The school’s board has embarked on an expansion project to allow it to accommodate dozens more students whom it currently has to refuse for lack of space. Students at the school are from four to 18 years old, with either a hearing disability or a non-deafness-related speech impairment. 

The Fondation Sourdine unveiled the $7-million project earlier this month at a fundraising gala which featured some 59 of the school’s 76 students hopping on stage and performing roles at full voice.

Foundation executive director Sandra Ferguson, herself the mother of a 22-year-old deaf son now completing studies in administration at Université Laval, said she was moved by the moment when students received a standing ovation for their performance.

“They get confident. ‘I can do that.’ They realize it’s possible to do something,” instead of facing rejection or ridicule for their disability.

The foundation has been working on an expansion project for the past three years, and has architects’ designs and engineering plans ready to go. 

The school, founded by a group of researchers at Université Laval, was authorized by the Quebec government in 2002. In 2012, the foundation acquired the building where the Institut St-Joseph private primary school was located. That school moved into a new building on the grounds of the college. 

Symptomatic of its need for expansion, the École Oraliste has been renting space at Collège Garnier to accommodate some 35 students. The maximum class size is four to six students. 

“This is the next step,” Ferguson said of the expansion plan. “Now people know the school better, know that this is a unique place for those kids. Since the past five years, 95 per cent of the kids who come [here] go back to a regular school with success.”

Ferguson has been lobbying government officials to obtain a substantial financial commitment to the project, but faces the same situation of financial scarcity as public schools. Regardless, she is confident the government will recognize the unique role the school plays, particularly with public schools struggling to provide services for students with additional needs.

The school receives funding from the Quebec government per student, including an amount for specialized education, but Ferguson said there is no government program for infrastructure for such a school.

She said, “We’ll cross our fingers” that the Ministry of Education will come through with funding that will encourage other private donors to contribute. Should government funding come through promptly, she said, “We’re ready to go.”

The building would be erected along Ave. Joffre in a section of the current parking lot and play area. The foundation has acquired an adjacent property on Ave. Cardinal-Rouleau to give it space for an expanded play area and courtyard.

The addition will contain 10 classrooms, a library and other multi-purpose spaces, bringing the classes together under one roof and boosting the capacity of the school to 125 students, a 40 per cent increase.

Ferguson said the school is having to refuse more and more students as awareness of its success spreads. Last year, 24 students were turned away, and so far this year, more than 30 have been denied a space.

“Our objective,” Ferguson said, “is to make these kids future contributors to society.”

With the end of the school term around the corner in June, Ferguson said the students “are not happy to go. They want to stay here. They don’t want to go because for the first time, it’s fun to learn.”