A North Vancouver family has been awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the B.C. Teachers Federation to recognize their 15-year struggle to assert the rights of learning-disabled students.
Outgoing BCTF president Susan Lambert presented the award to Rick and Michelle Moore at the union's annual general meeting earlier this month for carrying on their court fight long after their own son Jeffrey Moore could have benefited from the decision.
In November, the Moores won a landmark court case when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the North Vancouver school district had discriminated against their dyslexic son.
The court agreed with Rick Moore that by cutting services to Jeff and failing to provide alternatives, the local school district discriminated by making it impossible for Jeff to receive the education guaranteed to all children in B.C.
"Adequate special education . . . is not a dispensable luxury," the highest court ruled. "For those with severe learning disabilities, it is the ramp that provides access to the statutory commitment to education made to all children in British Columbia."
The November ruling marked the end of a long battle for the Moore family that began in the 1990s when, as a young child, Jeff struggled for several years while attending North Vancouver's Braemar elementary. The school district had recently closed a program that offered intensive remediation to students with learning disabilities.
Eventually, his parents pulled him out of the public system, hired tutors and re-mortgaged their house to pay for private schools that specialized in helping learning-disabled students.
Jeff, now 25, has long since graduated from high school, but Rick Moore said at the time of the ruling the case was never just about their family.
"This case was always about the children who couldn't benefit from the education Jeff was able to get," because they couldn't afford it, said Moore.
He added he hoped the victory would help other kids with learning disabilities get the help they need in the public school system.
In its decision, the court noted there was a clear recognition by the school district that Jeff needed intensive remediation in order to function in the school system, but told the family it couldn't provide that. The court said while the school district faced a budget crunch, "cuts were disproportionately made to special needs programs."
