The father of a deaf student ruled to have been discriminated against by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District is highlighting major gaps in the school system.

Earlier this year, a Human Rights Commission ruled that Carter Churchill, a student at Beachy Cove Elementary, had been discriminated against by the school board for failing to provide reasonable accommodations for the child from 2016 to 2020.

Todd Churchill, Carter’s father, on VOCM Open Line said, that while the school district apologized, their response still does not acknowledge that there is no proficiency testing for teachers for American Sign Language.

He says a French teacher has to pass a proficiency test, but a teacher with a Masters Degree in Education Psychology-Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education with only a very limited knowledge of ASL.

As for claims that the school district did not have a full perspective of the issues, Churchill is not buying that.

He says they were talking about the problem for six years, in addition to teachers who were “raising the alarms”. He says the officials all knew and chose to do nothing.