The Stay at Home Mother

Tonight I saw a story on global news that reduced me to tears. The story was about a little girl in Surrey, who has cerebral palsy.

She is in grade eight and lives with her father who has sole custody of her (she used to live in Mexico with her mother up until a few months ago).

Her classmates were going on an over night camping excursion, however, because the facilities were not wheelchair accessible, she was denied to go....

Her father told the school over and over again that she could walk and was not limited to the wheelchair. However, what the teachers chose only to see was her wheelchair. Their excuse was that there was not a special needs teacher that could be arranged for her. The teacher told the father that it was only up until a couple of weeks ago that they knew of his daughter's enrollment in the school.

What I want to know is why couldn't they locate an extra body within the time frame between September 3rd and September 23rd? Do you mean to say that within two weeks, nothing could be done to accomodate ONE little girl? Would the PAC not step in and help find some sort of funding for a special needs teacher for the overnight excursion?

So her father, like most good parents, went down to the school with his daughter to beg them to let her go, as her classmates clambered on the bus. He told them again that she could walk - and she did. Which suprised the teacher.

His comment was "Why didn't they want to educate themselves about this before all this took place?"

That's what I want to know.

Her classmates all cheered for the school district to let her go. Her father even offered to go with them, and look after her to fill the spot. But bureaucracy won out and she was left with tears streaming down her face as the bus filled with all her classmates, waved good-bye.

So why am I blogging about this particular story? I want you to feel the same outrage that I did at the treatment this young girl received from Fleetwood Park Elementary. I want you to close your eyes and envision this young little girl sitting on a curb in her wheelchair while the bus leaves without her. Now envision her face is your child's face.

To watch the story in its entirety click here

Pass it on to every parent you know.

And if at the end you have anything to add - please post your comments here and let's let Fleetwood Park Elementary know this is unacceptable now and going forward - may this NEVER happen to another child. They need to find a way to make it up to this little girl - now.