Desperate conditions at Stepping Stones Special School

Parents and staff at Stepping Stones Special School in Kilcloon are devastated at the cancellation of a meeting with the Department of Educations Building and Planning Unit to resolve the school's accommodation crisis.

The "desperate conditions in the school has led to 137 incidents of challenging behaviour causing damage to school property, assaults on staff and self injury by pupils since last September.

The School Principal, Dolores Cullinane has said “The situation here has reached crisis levels, staff and parents alike are at breaking point."

Stepping Stones Special School is a special school for students with autism and complex needs. The School has thirty children ranging in age from four to eighteen years of age in five classrooms.

The current school building was provided in 2005 as a short term measure. The prefabricated building is now 15 years old and at the time was designed to accommodate pre school and primary school aged pupils. The classrooms are approximately 27 square metres and a standard primary school classroom is 80 square metres. The wear and tear on the school building over the last 15 years has taken its toll. This has been exacerbated with a large cohort of senior students trying to learn in a cramped, overcrowded environment.

In September 2018 the Board of Management contacted the Department Building Unit highlighting the issues within the school in detail, a Department official was to visit and carry out a technical assessment but this has not happened.

Ms Cullinane explains the school had a visit from Minister of Education, Joe Mc Hugh and Minister Regina Doherty in March 2019, since then the school was sanctioned an additional 80 square meter prefab for a sensory room. Currently a small storage space improvised as a sensory de-escalation space, the planning is underway and whilst the additional space is welcome, it remains a long way off addressing the long term issue of an appropriate permanent school building fit for purpose.

A meeting was scheduled for Thursday the 30th January last with the Building and Planning Unit, however  the principal was contacted on the 29th to be informed officials were unable to attend with no follow up date available at this time.

The Chairperson, Alan Doyle says; “It has taken 18 months for the Department to acknowledge the School Board of Management requests for a meeting, whilst we welcome an additional 80 square meter prefab for a sensory room it remains a long way off addressing the issues. We have provided the Department with extensive information by way of letters, including photos of the size of the school spaces, the property damage, data on the increase of challenging behaviour and injuries to staff.

"Both staff and parents were aware of the scheduled meeting and all shared in the hope that finally we would have a long and short term solution to the school accommodation issues. To say that the whole school community is bitterly disappointed is a massive understatement. Our children deserve an appropriate learning environment, we have amazing staff who work tirelessly to provide the pupils with the skills to live a fulfilling life in the least restrictive settings. This is a lot less cost to the state and the taxpayer in the long run and affords our children an opportunity of making even the smallest of contributions to a more enriched society.”

The School Principal, Dolores Cullinane has said “The positive atmosphere that was so prevalent within the school despite the desperate conditions has taken a huge blow as a result of hearing about another delay from the Department. A permanent member of staff resigned from her post as her health, safety and wellbeing has been greatly affected."

In  a letter that staff member wrote to the board, she said. “During my time at Stepping Stones (two and a half years) I have received a fractured cheek bone, a sprained thumb, two serious head butts causing concussion, I’ve been bitten several times, slapped across the face, spat at, rugby tackled to the ground, I’ve had my hair pulled and I’ve been scratched several times. For the past year I have been on anti-depressant medication and visit a counsellor once, sometimes twice a week. I have had several panic attacks in the school, on the way to school and on more than one occasion, I’ve had to pull the car over on the way home from school. I come home in the evening and my shoulders are pinned to my ears I am so tense. I often can’t eat and sleeping has become a luxury since November. Recently due to challenging behaviours from older students in the school we are forced to lock ourselves in to the classroom on a daily basis while the student is transitioning to a different area in the school. And this can happen up to six times a day. This decision is the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life. Imagine loving your job with all your heart and having to give it up because of your environment.”

Stepping Stones Special School for Children with Autism and Complex Needs was first established by parents in 2002 given pilot project status by the DES and became a Special School in 2010.