The parents of a group of children with disabilities are accusing the NT government of failing to make sure one of its special schools has enough trained staff to keep them safe.
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00:00School pick-up every day brings relief for Kayleigh Sachs. She feels her daughter April
00:09isn't safe attending Palmerston's Forest Parade Special School.
00:14I fear that if her trachea wasn't changed in time and they didn't attend to her in a
00:20timely manner, she could lose her life.
00:22April has complex medical needs, including a tracheostomy to breathe, that can need to
00:27be suctioned or changed. Her mother says April used her NDIS disability funding to provide
00:35training on this to the school, but only two staff were trained.
00:39April came home and told me that there was no one trained in her class multiple times
00:45this year already.
00:46April's non-verbal classmate Eli Cook needs regular mouth suctioning to prevent choking.
00:52His mother also thinks the school lacks enough specially trained staff.
00:58So if they both go down at the same time, they're in a lot of trouble because that's
01:02blocking airways.
01:03Both mothers have provided the school with hospital letters saying their kids need one-to-one
01:09care to be safe.
01:11I got told all kids get the same funding and he doesn't require a one-on-one.
01:16The families have few other school choices available.
01:21Shelby Locke moved her non-verbal autistic son out to a mainstream school.
01:28After she says Forest Parade didn't tell her he was mislaid during a class photo session
01:34in 2023, until she saw he wasn't in the photos.
01:38They're getting paid to watch him 24-7 and they couldn't tell me where he was for at
01:42least 40 minutes.
01:43The ABC asked the school, education department and the education minister Jo Hersey for interviews.
01:50Following the ABC's queries, the minister wrote to Alison Cook, promising to work urgently
01:57to recruit a second nurse to the school, so that her son can have one-to-one supervision.
02:03The education department said it's not able to comment on individual cases, but it's committed
02:10to providing support for students with a disability.
02:13And Forest Parade School is dedicated to providing high-quality care.