NDG mom demands action after son concussed in schoolyard slip

DeniseThibaudeau's7-year-old son, Benjamin, suffered a concussion in December after slipping in an icy schoolyard, and now the NDG mother wants to make sure it does not happen to anyone else.

Thibaudeau said Benjamin was running in the yard after classes at coleNotre-Dame-de-Grce when he slipped, fell and hit his head.

School officials told her they are aware of a drainage problem in theyard which causes the ice buildup but that the school only expects to repair the drain starting in the nextschool year.

She wrote to the school's principal about the icy hazardbut has not received a response.

"It was an accident, but when you have an accident that happens over and over in the same place because of the same conditions, it becomes a preventable accident,"Thibaudeausaid.

She wants the school to come up with a plan so these accidents don't recur even if that means reorganizing the budget so that de-icingis made a higher priority.

Thibaudeauhas also turned to the school board, theCommission scolaire de Montral(CSDM),for answers. She said she nowfinds herself being bounced back and forth between the school and the board without either offering concrete solutions.

The CSDM's vice-chair,Marie-Jos Mastromonaco, said the school board is investing $2 million in 2018-2019 on redoing the drainand schoolyard, followed by another $2 million in 2020-2021.

"There are always patches of ice," Mastromonaco acknowledged."But whenever the schoolyard becomes a huge skating rink, that's when we don't allow children to go play in the schoolyard."

Still feelingeffects of fall

Benjamin was out of school for about two weeks.

The day heslipped,he was hyperventilating, wasn't able to comprehend what was being said to him, his mouth was partially paralyzed and he keptfalling asleep,Thibaudeausaid.

His health is improving, but he is still suffering, she said. He can't look at anything too stimulating, and he's a bit slower than he used to be.

"Yesterday he was put in a room with a video game at his after-school program, so he was pretty sick when I picked him up, and that was difficult to see," Thibaudeau said.

• Montreal school boards slam province's handling of school fee debate