I fully applaud the Victoria school board's desire to end discrimination in schools, to eliminate the imaginary glass ceiling of inferiority and to build on the abilities of all students.

I do not, however, support the board's call to remove limits to the number of special-needs students in a classroom.

I agreed to have more special-needs students in my class last semester. I carried seven special-needs students in one class, five in another and four in a third.

These were all very sweet, interested and engaged students.

Then reality hit:

1. I spent, on average, 20 minutes every class dealing with the drama of everyday life these children carry with them, taking me away from teaching the class.

2. When I finally received a teacher assistant one month into the class, for only two of my classes, they had no idea of the subject areas that I was teaching. All aides work hard, are caring and very dedicated individuals - but they could not always provide the help that was needed.

3. Some of the students around these special-needs students adopted the attitude of "I am going to do what they are doing"; "If they don't have to do it, I won't"; "If they can talk, so can I."

4. I had higher than average dropout rates of students who wanted to learn and were serious about improving their abilities, but couldn't concentrate with the additional noise and drama.

5. I had a continual stream of special-needs students coming and going in and out of the class because they had a meltdown, or needed to take a walk to control their emotions, or medical needs, or additional eating and bathroom needs.

6. I spent at least 30 per cent more time teaching these kids how to use the specialized software for photo-imaging, journalism and computer skills needs than my other students.

If I am spending all this time with them, I am not able to spend this time with other students who may want to use this expertise for their careers and livelihood. We need to have our students in Grade 11 and 12 preparing and having the tools for their future careers.

7. Decision time. Do I teach to the ability, quality and speed of the lowest level in the class, the average (which is now significantly lowered), or my usual highest bar that I normally set?

I can teach to higherquality education standard at a regular pace and lose the special needs. Or I can teach to the medium and lose both the higherperforming students and the special needs, or teach to the lower level and lose the rest of my class.

What would you do? Having more than three special-needs students is like having that extra drink that puts you over .05 - doable but very dangerous.

For every additional special-needs student that enters the class, you are adding one more drink into the mix; your vision gets blurrier and blurrier, your senses deteriorate, and finally your message becomes obfuscated.

The idea looks nice on paper, but doesn't work in real life. I want and do have special-needs students in my classroom but a manageable number - three is good.

Chuck Groot is the head of the business and IT department at Spectrum Community School.