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Seven-year-old Kinsley Simmons’ favourite class in school is math, she says it’s the easiest one. And she’s sad she hasn’t been able to attend more than a handful of days at school since November. That’s when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
Jennifer Simmons, Kinsley’s mother, says there’s a gap in the education system. They tried to send her to school, but the school isn’t informed enough to help her properly manage her condition.
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“After nearly a month of offering to help bridge the training gap and being refused, finally, the school said Kinsley was safe to return. But when she arrived, her medical supplies were locked away, her glucose monitor was taken from her, and within 30 minutes I received a chilling email asking at what (glucose) number would we call 911,” explained Simmons.
She said that resulted in an exclusion from school for Kinsley, while she and her family continued offering to help the staff get up to speed.
Kinsley went back to school again in January, but Jennifer said when her monitor alarm went off and low blood sugar was confirmed, Kinsley was only given one Skittle to help rectify the situation.
“She went into severe hypoglycemic shock — a potentially fatal diabetic emergency requiring immediate treatment. This was followed by another exclusion (from school). This was preventable, and proper training exists and could have been in place — and it should have been in place,” explained Jennifer.
In the interim, Jennifer has been staying home with Kinsley and has tried to keep her up with schoolwork.
She said there needs to be education for all school staff and training on how to recognize and treat low blood sugar. Jennifer said there is a great care plan for children in school created by Diabetes Canada, which has everything the school would need.
“There is currently no clear provincial framework for supporting students living with Type 1 diabetes in schools, no standardized training, no consistent implementation and no accountability to ensure competency in following students’ care plans,” she said.
Education Minister Everett Hindley. (Lisa Schick/980 CJME)
On Wednesday, Jennifer and Kinsley were at the legislative building on the invitation of the Sask. NDP to bring their concerns to Minister of Education Everett Hindley. Jennifer said they want things to change in Saskatchewan schools so Kinsley and other kids like her won’t be excluded anymore.
Hindley said he’d met with the family that day, and his office and ministry will work to find out more about what the family is asking for and what the school division is able to provide
“We need to make sure that we have all partners and are considering all partners around the table in terms of what they’re comfortable in delivering in terms of additional care in cases like this, and make sure that we look at that very carefully,” said Hindley.
He said it’s important to note that the province provides funding and some oversight, but school divisions operate and make their own decisions about delivering education and other services.
Hindley didn’t want to go as far as making any commitments about what the government would do in this case.
He said he wants to see what other provinces are doing about this, and find out what gaps exist in Saskatchewan and how they could be addressed.
