English school district accepts findings in deaf education discrimination case
NLESD ‘accepts responsibility’ for systemic education issues for Carter Churchill
The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District says it accepts the findings of a human rights tribunal report that ordered it to provide Carter Churchill — a profoundly deaf child from Portugal Cove-St. Philip's — with education and evaluation in American Sign Language and pay his family nearly $150,000 for discrimination.
Carter's parents, Todd and Kimberly Churchill, won the human rights case against the district in early March after a years-long fight to get their son the education he needed. Along with being deaf, Carter, who is 12 and uses ASL to communicate, has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal.
"The district does accept and fully accept and take responsibility for the systemic issues identified and the missed opportunities early in Carter's education, and we fully understand that's what led to the ruling of discrimination," the district's interim superintendent, Terry Hall, said late Wednesday afternoon.
"Those missed opportunities resulted in him being socially isolated and impeded his development of social and language skills, furthering a tremendous communications divide during his early years," Hall wrote in a statement.
Hall didn't blame any individual for the district's failure but said it "did not have a wholly informed perspective of his needs" and has apologized to the Churchill family.
The Churchills first filed a complaint against the district when Carter was in kindergarten at Beachy Cove Elementary. The family said Carter needed help to communicate and develop language skills and engage in the school curriculum, but wasn't getting the proper supports.
At that time the district said it had not discriminated against Carter and asserted he was properly accommodated.
The human rights commission ruled the district failed to provide reasonable accommodation for Carter between 2016 and 2020 for kindergarten through Grade 3 at Beachy Cove Elementary.
During these years, the report found, Carter experienced social isolation and had teachers who didn't know ASL or had training in teaching deaf children.
When Carter was in Grade 4 the school district created a classroom for deaf children at East Point Elementary for eight children learning American Sign Language.
Despite the development, the Churchills said, Carter's ASL is not at the level it should be.
"It hurts. There's no doubt when … you're told that you failed a student even for a year or two or three, but again we're taking away that we improved upon that. We now have a service that is felt that's adequate," Hall said.
The district had until March 31 to appeal the tribunal's decision but did not do so.
"We will continue to improve ASL skills both in our students and in our staff," Hall said.
The Churchills have called the tribunal ruling a landmark decision that will help protect other deaf children from discrimination.
Hall said the district will review programs to make sure they have appropriate services for students like Carter who have exceptionalities.
"We'll take learnings from this to see if we can improve in other areas," said Hall.
"We want the correct educational environment and resources for all our students and we want to make sure that they all have an opportunity to learn and learn appropriately and with the right resources," he said.