S. Ontario school board denies 10-yr-old access to high school

Windsor - Ontario's Minister of Education, Leona Dombrowsky, is backing the Windsor school board's decision to keep a 10-year-old student stuck in grade six, even though the boy has already completed the eighth grade.

The Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) has a policy of keeping students in with their age peers, no matter what capability a given student might have. This policy is causing one gifted ten-year-old student to chafe. Bachar Sbeiti told the Windsor Star,

"I finished Grade 6. I don't understand the point of doing it again. And I finished Grade 8, too. I just want to go to high school. I don't really mind being with people older than me. I want to actually challenge myself."

Instead of letting the youngster move on to high school, the Greater Essex County District School Board will most likely be placing the boy into Grade 5 or 6, where he will repeat studies he has already completed in a private school in Michigan. GECDSB Superintendent, Sharon Pyke told the Windsor Star that the school would develop an individual education plan for Sbeiti. Ontario's Minister of Education has weighed in on the matter, backing the school board, reported Jeff Bolichowski for The Windsor Star. It has not been explained why the mother Hala Sbeiti decided to go public with the story. In 2003, a news story circulated about the Sbeitis, relating the fact that then three-year-old Bachar would be attending the private school, Roeper School for gifted children in Bloomfield Hills in Michigan. At the time, the National Post's Tim Fraser wrote Bachar was the youngest Canadian lost to 'brain drain.' The University of Western Ontario characterizes 'brain drain' as the movement of intellectuals and highly skilled people from Canada to the United States. The movement is seen as detrimental for Canada as a whole. Fraser said Bachar was identified as gifted when the boy was two years old. When he was three, the US-based Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) provided funding for Bachar's education in Michigan after mother Hala could not find any Canadian financial assistance to send her son to a private school. Bachar was born in Montreal, but he and his mother have lived in Michigan for Bachar's education for the past 7 years. Hala Sbeiti revealed to the Windsor Star she is in receipt of social assistance and her honesty has become the focus point for publicly expressed outrage by some Windsor Star readers. One comment posted by rockinrobin on August 21, sums up the antipathy expressed towards the Sbeitis.

"I am saddened once again out social services support someone who was not born on Canadian soil and allows them to take gifts of money to pay for privte education. There are real Canadians who have to struggle to work report their income to the welfare office, hope to get subsidized childcare so they can work and if they had someone ( mother , father, or whomever) helping pay tution they would have to pay it back to the goverment the money they got in their check.

Crazy how we can allow people to immigrate to our country and not be a asset to our society. They come in unemployeed and our hard working Canadians pay their way... Anyone immigrating has to prove financially they can support themselves and not be a burden on Canadian society?"

The comments reflect the latest trend in Canada -- sentiment against new immigrants. As reported by the National Post, a recent poll found

"... Canadians have turned into hard-hearted, immigrant-hating SOBs."

The Association for Bright Children of Ontario (ABC Ontario) website states that the Ontario

"... School boards are required to identify exceptional students and provide appropriate Special Education services to meet these students’ needs."