Navan school authorities reject charge of 'wilful obstruction" of autism unit

Authorities at St Oliver"s National School in Navan, where a controversy is running over calls for the provision of a unit within the school for children with autism, have described as 'completely untrue' any suggestion that the only reason the school does not have such a unit is because of wilful obstruction by the sole manager of the school and the school patron, Bishop Michael Smith. A statement issued on behalf of the school, which is under the sole management of Fr Brendan Ludlow, challenged information contained in recent Meath Chronicle news reports. Parents of children with autism have been campaigning for the establishment of a special unit within the school to cater for these children. Signatures to a petition to be presented to Bishop Smith are being collected from members of the public. In a statement this week, Fr Ludlow said that, contrary to some reports, the Department of Education had not at any stage 'signed off' on the setting up of an autism unit for St Oliver"s. 'Representatives of National Educational and Psychological Services (NEPS) and National Council for Special Education (NCSE) have confirmed to me that, contrary to information circulated, placement in a specialised autism unit has only been recommended in the psychologist"s report of one child currently enrolled in St Oliver"s School.' Setting out the background to the issue, he said that, on 29th August 2005, the school"s board of management applied to the NCSE for sanction to set up an autistic unit. At that time, the school had an autistic child who presented as needing a special autism class placement. He said there was no available space in any of the special autistic units in Meath to accommodate this child. In the interism, a full-time special needs assistant (SNA) and 22.5 resource houas were allocated to this child at St Oliver"s. 'On receiving the application for sanction of an autism unit at St Oliver"s, the Special Education Needs Officer (SENO) for the area visited the school. She asked the school to reconsider its application and apply instead for sanction to establish a second Emotional Disturbance and Behavioural (EBD) Unit. The school acquiesced to her request.' Among the reasons given for this request, the SENO indicated that the existing EBD unit at St Oliver"s, the only EBD unit in Meath, was overcrowded. She further pointed out that a 'high functioning autistic unit' would be coming on-stream at a neighbouring school in the coming years. Fr Ludlow said that the SENO"s opinion was that an EBD unit was more warranted than an autism unit. 'The SENO proposed that the autistic child attending St Oliver"s should be accommodated in the proposed new EBD. In such an event, the teacher and SNA already allocated to the child would become staff of the new EBD unit, which would house up to eight emotionally and behaviourally disturbed children.' He added that while he had reservations about the decision taken to sanction a second EBD unit as a response to the needs of a child who presented with autism, it remained a historical fact that, since 2005, St Oliver"s School has two units for emotionally and behaviourally disturbed children. More recently, on 18th February last, he said he attended a case conference meeting regarding a child enrolled in one of the school"s EBD units. This child was not diagnosed with autistic spectrum disorder. He said that, contrary to some reports, that meeting had not been called to discuss autism or an autism unit. 'Towards the end of this meeting, the SENO raised, rather unexpectedly, the possibility of the school applying for a a new autistic unit. This proposed unit could house two children currently in the EBD unit and a further four referred from other schools in the county. The SENO confirmed that she would be able to assign one additional teacher for the unit and no additional SNAs. I was informed that the SNAs for the unit would have to be redeployed from our school"s EBD units and from mainstream classrooms.' Having considered the proposal, Fr Ludlow said that he had 'reasonable reservations and concerns' based on fire safety, appropriate resources ('having spoken to staff in a number of schools with long-established autistic units and those currently in the process of setting up units, I was warned of significant inadequacies in the resources being made available for schools setting up units'); concern for the staff ('the staff of the current EBD units were already under very significant pressure in managing a number of children in these units'); Departmental advice ('the Department advised me that it did not consider it wise to establish too many units in the one school'); concern regarding stop-gap solutions ('it seemed to me that the NCSE were looking for a quick and cheap solution'), and the patron"s directives ('as school manager, I wrote to the school patron seeking his consideration regarding the suggestion. The patron informed me that the Department had already proposed a two-class ASD unit for a neighbouring school in Navan). 'He also outlined that he received further correspondence from the Department on 17th July 2008 proposing a new 24-classroom building incorporating a purpose-built double-high functioning autism unit at a nearby school. Naturally, as patron of both schools, he could not rescind or undermine his earlier decision'. Fr Ludlow said that the structure for proposing and setting up autism units in each county 'would seem haphazard and forward planning appears to be minimal'. The school manager added: 'The source of the problem is that, in 2005, an EBD unit was established in response to the needs of a child with autistic spectrum disorder. This decision would seem to have proven unsatisfactory, but it is impossible to roll back on the decision. The school is not in a position to establish a third unit.'. He said, as school manager, he was obliged to be mindful of the needs of the whole school community, students and staff. 'I do not arrive at decisions lightly. Health and safety concerns, adequate space, resources and staffing were paramount in my decision that St Oliver"s School was not in a position to accommodate a third specialised unit. Such a move would inevitably have been at the expense of current students and the EBD units already established,' Fr Ludlow said.