A parent is imploring the school district to test children for dyslexia, saying the system is failing B.C. students.

Natasha Etherington, a Pitt Meadows parent, wrote to the board of education in light of a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that the North Vancouver school district has to compensate a family whose son was put into a private school because he had dyslexia.

Etherington is asking the local school district to test all children for dyslexia every year, and provide yearly mandatory training and updates for teachers and support staff.

She points out that in Alberta all children are tested for dyslexia in Grade 3.

“We are failing children in British Columbia,” she said in her letter.

“I expect that we’ll ask our staff what is happening with this particular subject in the district,” Murray said, adding that his “initial impression is we are doing a number of things [to deal with dyslexia].”

School board chair Mike Murray said there will most likely be a discussion on the topic at the next board meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 28, at 6 p.m.