Students, teachers, board identified as Alma Parris School prepares to reopen

The Alma Parris Memorial Secondary School will soon reopen its doors to serve the needs of students with disabilities, Minister of Education Kay McConney has revealed, although she has not given a date for the resumption of operations.

The specialised institution for students with special needs was closed in 2017 because of a decline in the student roll. However, the education minister said preparations, including getting the plant ready for reopening and choosing the teachers and management, are at an advanced stage.

“We’ve already selected the students who will be part of this first cohort; completed their diagnostic tests,” McConney disclosed in her contribution to the debate on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill in Parliament on Tuesday.

Teachers for the school’s new chapter have also been identified. 

“The board of the school has already been selected and they have received their instruments and, indeed, the school itself is being prepared,” the education minister added.

“We are working with manufacturers to ensure that the students’ uniforms are ready. When I say that the school is about to reopen, we have put much of the preparatory work in place. I promised the unions that we would make the announcement together as to what date we will reopen, and I will keep that promise to them.”

The Alma Parris School opened in 1995 and operated for 22 years before its closure.

The education minister said the facility is needed now to accommodate students who need special attention.

“Our statistics have told us that over the last several years, there has been an increase in the number of students who are presenting with special needs, and, therefore, we need to expand our capacity, expand our spaces,” she explained. 

“And while our inclusive approach to education says indeed that we wish to the extent possible to integrate all students with special needs into the mainstream schools, we also recognise that there are some students that even if it is for a short time, might need to be pulled out of the mainstream, and treated to specially to suit their needs, with a view towards reintegrating them at some point in time, or at least providing an alternative path to education that will allow them to get the kind of outcomes that they’re seeking.”

McConney also outlined several other initiatives, including revising the Education Act and developing an inclusive education policy. She explained that disability advocates who have been a part of the conversation that contributed to the legislation and policy have been in constant conversation with the Ministry of Education. 

“They have not only been on selection committees for a number of consultancies that will come up as part of the education transformation, including the revision of the Education Act and for a new inclusive education policy, but they have also been a part of the team that is helping us to shape what a new and improved Education Act must look like if it is to include and be responsive and respectful to persons with disabilities,” she said.

“We expect that by February, that consultancy should be off and running, and we expect that by the end of this year, if all goes well, we should have a more modern Education Act that includes the concerns of all persons with disabilities. The process has begun.”

The education policy, which is expected to be finalised in another four months, is central to the new approach, Minister McConney said.

“I am proud to say that started in September of 2024. We brought on board a consultant to help us build out a new inclusive education policy. We are expecting that that policy will be concluded by April and we can expect over the next several months that there will be consultations [with] stakeholders to understand what an inclusive education policy should look like, what should we include, and how indeed we want to anchor it in the way that we do a transformed educational approach,” she told Parliament.

In addition to policy reforms, there is a plan to enhance the special education needs section at the Erdiston Teachers’ Training College. 

“In fact, that process has already begun. We recognise that we must do expanded professional development for teachers and school leaders,” McConney said, stressing the importance of a school environment that “makes space for all students”.

“If we do not have school leaders and teachers that ensure that this happens within the environment, it will only be talk,” the education minister said.

“We therefore need to make sure that they are sensitised, that they’re trained and they’re provided with the skills and the tools and the knowledge to make a conducive environment in schools that is a conducive environment for all.” (FW)