Corner Brook student, parents say school's lack of accessibility keeping others from enrolling

Alex Kennedy · CBC News

· Posted: May 15, 2025 4:30 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

Parents and students of École C.C. Loughlin Elementary School in Corner Brook are voicing their concerns implicit accessibility issues they accidental their schoolhouse is facing, and that it's keeping students with mobility challenges from enrolling.

Alice Brazil, a Grade 6 student, has tried to navigate the school's galore hallways and stairs connected crutches aft fracturing his ankle astatine shot practice. Stairs are the lone mode to entree the schoolhouse from its main entrance, and the gathering doesn't person accessibility ramps oregon an elevator.

"It's each stairs," Alice told CBC News this week.

"I can't spell to the gym, room oregon the little floor. I either enactment successful my classroom, oregon I person to spell to different classroom. [It feels] truly annoying, portion different people, similar my classmates, are having fun, I person to bash work."

Brazil's mother, Shanda Slipp, said the aged gathering has been expanded implicit the years, and that presents challenges successful schoolhouse layouts for immoderate student.

The schoolhouse has agelong hallways that twist and crook with constrictive stairwells. Some students person to usage aggregate sets of stairs erstwhile travelling betwixt classrooms, and Brazil has to participate the schoolhouse done a backmost doorway due to the fact that there's little stairs to navigate.

"The schoolhouse is not accessible astatine all, you know, for idiosyncratic with quality challenges," Slipp said.

"Accessibility is simply a right. It's a quality right. It's not a luxury. It's not good conscionable to say, 'this is the mode it is and we person an aged building.'"

CBC News asked the Department of Education and NLSchools for interviews. Both declined.

École C.C. Loughlin Elementary is the lone schoolhouse successful Corner Brook that offers French immersion. The adjacent closest schoolhouse to connection the programme is an hr distant successful Stephenville.

Slipp told CBC News she has heard stories of students with mobility challenges being told to question French immersion elsewhere.

"Kids with accessibility challenges conscionable tin not be C.C. Loughlin," she said. "A kid successful a wheelchair could not enactment successful aboriginal French immersion successful Corner Brook, which is, really, conscionable not OK."

Kevin Mitchell, the schoolhouse council's seat and vice-president of the Corner Brook section of Canadian Parents for French, said accessibility is simply a obstruction for enrolment astatine the school.

Minutes earlier gathering CBC News for an interview, Mitchell said helium met with a household who were questioning whether oregon not to enrol, fixed accessibility concerns.

"They yet decided to spell up and enrol, which is large … but perfectly families are alert that it is not an accessible school," helium said. "I perceive families, astatine slightest weekly, travel up to maine and accidental we request a caller school."

At minimum, Mitchell said, upgrades are needed.

Slipp says a caller schoolhouse would payment aboriginal generations.

"I'm definite retrofits are expensive. This gathering astir apt conscionable needs to beryllium replaced, arsenic I'm definite galore others do. But these kids merit better," she said.

In an emailed connection to CBC News, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development spokesperson Lynn Robinson said aging buildings acquisition changeless upgrades to conscionable the needs of a school's population. 

If a kid has accessibility needs, the connection said, parents oregon guardians should consult with schoolhouse administration.

Download our free CBC News app to motion up for propulsion alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to sojourn our landing page.