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English school for Avonelle Alliance Quebec says it will press case for other students in same boat Reprinted from The Gazette, Saturday 3 July 1999 by Basen Boshra A St. Laurent girl who has been languishing in the French school system since emigrating from Trinidad five years ago is finally being allowed to attend English school. Avonelle Titus, 13, received written confirmation from the minister of education on Wednesday that she has been granted a certificate of eligibility to attend English classes beginning in September. Buoyed by Avonelle's victory, Alliance Quebec, which had taken up the girl's cause with the education minister, now wants the government to show similar latitude with other English-speaking students struggling in French schools. The English-rights lobby group announced yesterday it will be sending letters to the education minister and all French school boards in greater Montreal asking that those children, estimated by Alliance Quebec to be in the hundreds, be identified, evaluated and allowed to attend English schools beginning in September. If the government is recalcitrant, lawyer Brent Tyler said Alliance Quebec is ready to take the matter to court. Tyler said the government would not have to amend its existing laws or create new ones to allow the children to transfer into English schools, but would simply have to follow the laws already on the books.The French Language
Charter, Tyler said, contains an exemption which allows children with serious learning
disabilities who have fallen two or more years back academically to be evaluated by a
psychologist and transferred to English school. Avonelle is in a special-education class where she is learning at a Grade 3 or 4 level, whereas a student her age should be in Grade 7. An educational psychologist with the English Montreal School Board will now evaluate Avonelle to determine the school, program and year level that best matches her ability. A spokesman for Education Minister Francois Legault contacted yesterday would only say that all requests are considered on an individual basis and that the minister would not comment until he receives Alliance Quebec's official request.As for Avonelle, the timid 13-year-old was clearly overwhelmed yesterday by all the public attention. "It makes me very happy," was all she said quietly when asked for her reaction. "I've been waiting for this for a long time." Avonelle's mother, Suzanne Greaves, said the phone call from Tyler informing her of the minister's decision came both as a relief and a surprise. "We had been wanting it so much, but I was afraid that we would be turned down," Greaves said. "That was one of the happiest days of my life. "People had told me my daughter had fallen through the cracks in the system, and I was afraid it was too late to help her. I'm happy I was wrong." The minister's decision also provides some financial relief for Greaves, who works at a low-paying factory job. She had been scraping together enough money to send Avonelle's older brother, Jude, to a private English school. But the certificate granted to Avonelle now means that Jude is also eligible to start going to English public school. The Quebec Political Action Committee, the group founded by English-rights activist Howard Galganov, also announced yesterday it is prepared to financially back a class action on behalf of Avonelle, to get financial compensation for the suffering it says she and the hundreds of other children in a similar situation have been through.But a lawsuit was the farthest thing from Greaves's mind yesterday. She said she was just happy to finally have her daughter back on the right academic track. "I am overwhelmed that we made it, but this is just the beginning," Greaves said. "I know we still have a long way to go." Contributions to the Brent Tyler in Trust
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