The first 8 years of school shape our precious children's lives. Why won't governments treat education as their most important job?

Mary Ellen Kot is an Ottawa grandmother, a retired special education teacher and a writer. For the past eight years, two of our grandchildren have attended Wilkinson Junior Public School in East York, Toronto. With last June's graduation, our days there ended. I'm going to miss it. When kids are young, it seems as if their school days will go on forever. The reality is that one day you are dropping them off in the kindergarten yard and the next minute you're attending their graduation. Those eight years will shape the rest of their lives. From the street, the first thing you notice at Wilkinson Junior Public School in East York are coloured signs proclaiming all are welcome. Now, when we drive down Donlands Avenue and pass Wilkinson, I am filled with feelings of gratitude and sadness. I know my feeling of sadness is temporary, but I will always be thankful for those years and the dedicated staff members who breathe life into that old building. From the street, the first thing you notice are coloured signs, in many languages, proclaiming that all are welcome. Once inside the front door, while waiting to check in with one of the most welcoming school administrators ever, you see more signs, proclaiming that Wilkinson's mandate is to serve the diverse needs of all students. My husband and I are retired teachers and grandparents of four, so we have met many teachers. The staff at Wilkinson are among the best. Over the years our grandkids have had the privilege of being cared for by many excellent classroom teachers. We often planned our Toronto visits around special occasions at Wilkinson, such as school concerts and sporting events. Last June, as we watched the track and field day, we overheard their phys. ed teacher extraordinaire say, 'High fives all around.' He repeated that phrase all day, after each race he supervised. That simple sentiment captures the spirit of Wilkinson. Students are encouraged, not only to do their best, but to encourage and support each other. Along with the fun and excitement of attending sporting events at Wilkinson, there were the school concerts, led by their talented music teacher. Along with the extraordinary musical performances, we were always impressed by the smoothness of the whole operation. As with the track and field days, they went off without a hitch, thanks to the teachers who put in extra time to be there. It has been a privilege to watch that teamwork in action. Strong phys. ed. and music programs in a school bring benefits that carry over into all aspects of students' education. Those concerts and sporting events are the result of so much learning, training and discipline. Our family is also grateful to vital members of the school team who work in the background to assist challenged students. If all students are to experience success, many need psychologists to assess their abilities. Some benefit from time spent with occupational therapists, social workers and special education teachers. Regular classroom teachers, try as they might, cannot meet the needs of all their students, without the assistance and expertise of these specialists. Money spent on special education and smaller class sizes benefits all students. This fall, Toronto classroom teachers will have to rely on a reduced team. Among the cuts at the TDSB are those to the number of vice principals, early childhood educators, psychologists, social workers, speech and language pathologists, and occupational therapists. One of many inclusive messages outside Wilkinson Junior Public School. As a parent in the 1980s, I was involved in securing special education services to assist our learning disabled child. As a special-education teacher in later years, I empathized with parents of special needs students. It's discouraging to hear that parents and teachers must now fight for services that were more readily available in the 1980s. How can governments fail to realize that education, the formation of our future society, is the most important business of all? As the late Ontario premier Bill Davis used to say, 'If you get education right, everything else in society falls into place.' Despite the current shortfall in education funding, staff members in schools all over the province do their very best to teach our children. Like parents and grandparents all over the country, we entrust our precious young people into the care of their new teachers. We can only hope that their schools, like Wilkinson, will be welcoming places, demonstrating inclusivity, goodness, joy and hope. Mary Ellen Kot is an Ottawa grandmother, a retired special education teacher and a writer. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details