June 3, 2024, Collingwood Today: Schools with few EAs more likely to ask special needs students to stay home: report
Principals at schools experiencing shortages of educational assistants were more likely to recommend students with special needs stay home, according to a new report from advocacy group People for Education.
About 72 per cent of elementary schools where principals reported daily shortages of educational assistants (EAs) recommended students with special needs to stay home, compared to 56 per cent of the schools where no daily shortages of educational assistants were reported, said the report, which was released on Monday. In high schools, 67 per cent of the schools experiencing shortages reported asking some students to stay home, compared to 53 per cent where educational assistants were regularly available.
Safety and the lack of necessary support were the top two reasons principals cited for recommending students remain at home.
The People for Education report was based on its annual school survey sent to principals at schools across the province, with 1,030 responses from 70 of 72 school boards, representing 21 per cent of the province's publicly funded schools.
More than 40 per cent of schools that responded to the survey — 42 per cent of elementary and 46 per cent of high schools — reported shortages of educational assistants each day, with many saying that this meant special education teachers were forced to fill the gaps.
"More EAs are needed. Our SERT (Special Education Resource Teacher) team is acting as EAs most of the day and cannot get to special education for those who are struggling academically," one elementary school principal in the Greater Toronto Area was quoted as saying in response to the survey. . . .
Kidder said the bigger issue and question is whether the province has "really figured out all of our policy around special education" and the supports that are needed for students with special needs.
"How are we making sure that they are truly supported, and not just supported, but learning, thriving in school?" she said, adding that the EA shortage is the "canary in the coal mine."
"It's really clear, it's really concrete, and it's causing real problems, and it is surprising to see that significantly more principals are recommending that students stay home than had in the past," Kidder added.
Several groups, including unions, have raised concerns about staffing shortages in schools.
Last fall, the Ontario Principals’ Council said in response to a survey of its members that staffing shortages are "continuing to have a negative impact on student learning, safety and engagement.” . . .
Earlier this year, teachers unions rejected the Ministry of Education’s request to support a temporary measure to increase the number of days retired teachers could work from 50 to 95 before their pension is affected, saying it's not a sustainable solution and doesn't help with retaining or attracting new educators. . . .
The report did find, however, that low-income elementary schools were more likely than high-income schools — 90 per cent compared to 74 per cent — to have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) in place for students waiting for these assessments. An IEP is a written plan that outline services, special education programs or accommodations that will be provided for a student.
"What we're seeing are cracks ... and inequity, and both those things are worrying," said Kidder, though she said the fact that IEPs are still in place without assessments in some cases is a good thing. . . .
In response to questions about the report, Isha Chaudhuri, Lecce's spokesperson, said the government is increasing special education funding for the upcoming school year by $117 million to $3.5 billion, and has added 9,000 more education staff, including 3,500 more EAs, since 2018 "to ensure students are learning and safe."
"Our government has invested $118 million [$87M US] in mental health resources for 2024-25, which represents a 577 per cent increase from 2018 under the previous Liberal government and hired more mental health and social workers to support children in need," she added. "This year alone, our government invested $250,000 t[$183K US] o Ophea, to develop a training module to promote consistency in how provincial school boards train staff on supporting children with prevalent medical conditions.”
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