St. Raphael Elementary

By Joel Ceausu
The Suburban

The English Montreal School Board has launched a consultation process to open a new school for students with different disabilities. The board is proposing to house the new school at Nesbitt Elementary School in Rosemont for the 2025-26 academic year, coinciding with the closure of St. Raphael Elementary in Park Extension.

St. Raphael presently welcomes students with severe socio-emotional and behavioural difficulties and is at full capacity with a waiting list. The new location will serve neurotypical and neurodivergent students with severe behavioural difficulties and provide specialized resources and space to address the needs of both groups. The school would welcome 112 students overall, with each class having from six to eight students.

Over the last five years, the EMSB has opened numerous self-contained classes in mainstream schools to address the needs of students with specialized needs, causing overcrowding in some schools and extended resources across the system. As the EMSB has limited numbers of self-contained classrooms due to lack of space, students with complex needs are often placed in regular classes. Moreover, some students need specialized services that self-contained classes in regular schools cannot offer.

EMSB Chair Joe Ortona says the public hearings to take place in September 2024 will explore the need to consolidate resources in one location and create a centre of expertise to better serve students with different disabilities. “Having the students with exceptional challenges in a building where there is an existing school with joint activities, such as concerts, carnival days, welcome back festivities, just to name a few, would help facilitate the integration of neurotypical children into a regular setting,” he said.

“The integration of students with particular needs into a regular setting offers equitable opportunities and improves the learning outcomes for all children.” n