‘It’s going to be a massive problem down the road’ – parent
A parents group is asking the Department of Education and the local Education and Training Board to rethink the site for a new special schools in Monaghan.
Chairperson of the Special Needs Active Parents (SNAP) group Paddy McAloon visited the Castleblayney location of the new special school and admits he felt “pretty alarmed” upon seeing it.
“The site to me is just a non-runner,” he said.
The father five, including two children with special needs, expressed concerns about the site’s proximity to the road, its ability to expand in the future, its location on top of a hill and the space inside the school.
“The nature of these special needs children are, they tend to be flight risk, not all of them but some of them,” he explained. “My own son, I couldn’t send him to that school,” continued Paddy.
“It’s too close to the road,” he explained, highlighting road safety concerns.
“I know the principals and the staff will be fantastic, of course they will be, but there’s only so much they can do if the accommodation doesn’t suit.”
Paddy pointed out that with the nearby college, Scoil Mhuire BNS, the Enterprise Centre and a filling station, it is already “absolute mayhem” in the morning and evenings with “buses and cars parked both sides of the road”.
“Where they safely intend to fit in more moms and dads coming in their cars to pick up their children, more buses, room for escorts, room for wheelchair access, I don’t see where it is.”
He queried if the Department of Education had undertaken a traffic study before deciding on the location, and described the site choice as “ridiculous”.
“It’s supposed to be a temporary location but unfortunately, in our time, temporary can mean a long time.”
The chairperson said he understands the CMETB want the school to be open for September.
“To say that it has to go there because we need it open for September is not a good enough excuse, if they’re putting it there because they’re stuck for a location, I wouldn’t swallow that at all. What they need is a carpark or a green field out the road and put four or five prefabs on it and give us the promise of a proper new building.
“This is only putting a plaster on, this is only a temporary fix and it’s going to be a massive problem down the road.”
Paddy said that, upon entering the gate, the school is “on the hill the whole way” with the building itself “old” with “extremely tight working space” and “very short stepped and steep” staircases inside.
“Ideally they need a ground floor building,” he said.
“I don’t see any room for expansion on that site. I don’t see any room for outdoor play areas on that site, I don’t see any room for sensory gardens on that site,” he said.
Paddy acknowledged that he does not hold the views of all parents to special needs children in the area.
“They’re afraid that school place won’t be there for their children and I understand that, I do understand that.
“They’re right to be afraid but at the same time to have it in that place is only going to create problems.
“I just think that if it starts off on the right foot, in the right place it will be so much better, it will expand and grow, it will be easier for staff, it will be far better for children.”
Paddy said the NCSE have met and consulted with the group on criteria for admittance to the school, who have been “fantastic” however he said they have not consulted with them on the location.
“I have spoken to the ETB as well and they have told me also, we’re the patrons of the school, we’re running the school we’re employing staff but it’s the Department of Education that ultimately picks the site.
“Monaghan deserves the same school as Cavan have in the Holy Family [School],” he contended.
“This should not hold up the school opening in September because, as we speak, there hasn’t been one stone turned on that site in Castleblayney.”
Paddy believes there are other options available, and thinks it would be a “massive mistake” to move in “somewhere where there’s no room for expansion” and “dreadful” traffic.