Halton Board Decision Impacts Special Needs Students
A media release went out on Friday, June 12, 2009 as noted below. Recent decisions to reallocate Educational Assistants has many parents in Halton fuming.
Many would ask that after the recent decisions on increasing and guaranteeing busing and the money spent on such to French Immersion students, why is this latest decision occuring.
Special needs students are our most vulnerable and should be a priority. What is seriously wrong with the Halton District School Board many are asking.
Here is the news release:
HALTON BOARD DECISION IMPACTS SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENTS
A recent Board decision to reallocate Educational Assistants (EAs) has left staff at many of the regions’ secondary schools concerned about programs for special education students and at-risk students. Educational assistants provide our neediest students with additional support in their classes, usually in a one-to-one setting. Many students will return to school in September to find those supports no longer exist in the secondary panel. The Board’s focus on health and safety issues as criteria for EA placement means that there will be 70 fewer EA’s in secondary schools to address educational issues and ensure that all students have an opportunity to achieve success. Only fifty EA’s (from a complement of over 600) have yet to be assigned their duties for the next school year. These fifty will be inadequate to meet the requests for EA support from all of Halton’s elementary and secondary schools.
“The rationale for such a significant change in the special education support provided to our students was not discussed with secondary school educators,” points out Casey Kalvaitis, OSSTF District 20 President, “and we aren’t aware of any implementation plan for replacing the educational support provided by EA’s, that our students need and deserve.”
It should be made clear that this is NOT a cutback but a SHORTAGE. The fact is there have been the SAME number of EAs system wide for the past four years, despite the fact the Halton District School Board continues to see an increase in enrollment and an increase in identified students that require assistance. Every year the demand for support increases and the present resources keep getting stretched passed their limits.
The basis of student success is providing the resources to assist all students to reach their full potential. The Halton Board’s shortage of educational assistants and reallocation decisions could be creating a major barrier to achieving Halton’s overall goal of improving student achievement.
OSSTF District 20 will be holding an information rally at the Halton District School Board offices, 2050 Guelph Line Burlington on Wednesday June 17 between 4:30 and 6:30.
I feel very lucky. We can afford to send our son to a private school in Oakville that specializes in kids with Learning Disabilites. It’s called Wildwood Academy and it has been a life saver. My son’s LD is pretty minor. He has some fine motor skill problems which makes it a little more difficult to write. He doesn’t like it
He had some reading issues which he has now overcome and is reading two grades higher. But he was suffering in school. Because he knew he was struggling (and we’re talking Grade 2 at the time); he was having panic attacks and anxiety. Meltdowns that he couldn’t cope with. It was heartbreaking. Now he is happy. He has teachers who understand he learns differently. And believe me, a child happy in school makes for a happy home too.
To be honest, I didn’t spend much time investigating what Halton District School Board were going to be offering for help. It was something like half an hour a week. Pulled out of class in front of his peers. The kid that was “special needs”. I was not willing to put my child through that. What they could offer was not enough.
I walk around my sons old school (I have an older child there) and my heart goes out to the kids with LD’s who need more help than is offered. It’s obvious. It is shameful. Our kids deserve more.
I feel lucky. We can afford my son’s brilliant school. But what about those who can’t?
I could not agree more. This board along with other boards across Ontario and the country spend countless dollars on unneeded items and other priorities. The most vulnerable children fall through the cracks or are provided such substandard assistance. It is time for us to focus on the basics of what really matters, get the knowledge to identify and address the issue and have the political will to do it.
The delays in testing to even determine a problem if left at the school level take what seem to be years while parents are promised it is ‘coming’. Parents need to become active advocates for their children to ensure their needs are met and our board should be ensuring those most vulnerable are provided assistance, understanding and information.
The recent budgetary cuts that provide less help will have an effect on all children. Whether your child is directly receiving the help or is part of the same classroom or schoolyard, make no mistake we are all in this together.
Thanks for the lovely words. We appreciate the input and encourage you to tell others about the magazine and join the group forum with others.
Some of us even don’t realize the importance of this information. What a pity.
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