The board has officially reversed the cuts to our vice principal and educational assistant positions. Keep a close watch on the upcoming budget meetings to ensure these roles remain fully protected.
September 11, 2016
Final supporters
As a parent community, we have just been informed that the school and our children will be losing the .5 assignment of the Vice Principal and one FT Educational Assistant with the expectation that further cuts within our special education programs and School might occur.
As a parent community, we find this completely unacceptable and are asking the board and ministry to reconsider both of these decisions.
In 2013, we went from having a full time VP to a half time VP. Most recently, our current VP, Ms. Brault, was kept amply busy with her duties ranging from Special Education, teacher appraisals, parent communication lead, Parent/Student Reading Program, First Aid/CPR, CSPC Member, Health/Safety, discipline, and overseeing developmental assets all while being the second in command to our also busy Principal, Ms. Anne Martin. Ms. Brault has been managing the role formidably, but there has never been a moment where her role/responsibilities have been redundant within the school.
Her role is now being omitted from the administration which begs the question of who will now be taking on her long list of responsibilities moving forward. We have a teaching staff on a work-to-rule so asking them to take on more responsibility is clearly not an option. The sophistication and expertise that comes from years as a teacher and administrator means that Ms. Brault’s duties cannot (and should not) be reassigned to our school’s only one FT and 1 PT office support staff.
Secondly, St. Johns is a school of 450 students, of which 77 require a broad range of special education support representing almost 20% of the student population. The majority of the IEP students are in Grades 4-8, with the majority w/ ADHD/anxiety which we know requires additional in-class support to keep them on task. St. Johns currently has 1.0 Special Education teacher allocation and as of September 2016 will have only 1 full-time Education Assistant.
The decision to cut Ms. Josie Medeiros, a FT Education Assistant in our Special Education Program, with 16 year tenure at St. Johns, is completely unacceptable. Ms. Medeiros has fulfilled a wide list of duties ranging from student supervision, assisting students with lessons, assistance to students which have mental and physical disabilities with challenges of mobility, communication and personal hygiene. She helps with the marking of tests and work sheets, she teaches small support modified programs like math, she takes notes for children that are unable to transcribe from boards and she assists with the loading and unloading of over 100 students that take school bus transportation.
She is the only EA certified to work with Autistic Students and she carries out dozens of other necessary duties and responsibilities that are essential for our school and student body. Most importantly she is a support to students that require medical assistance and currently assists a student that requires catheterization.
We are asking the board/ministry to provide us with a detailed plan of how, with these cuts, you are going to provide the necessary support to fulfill the needs of all of the St. John students including the Special Education students and how you are going to measure success and progress.
As a parent community, we sent letters of concern, disbelief and outrage last year at this time and are doing so again this year because we care about our kids, our school and our community.
Please reconsider your decisions above because simply stating “it’s just not in the budget” is not acceptable moving forward.
Updates
June 29, 2016
We hit 250 signatures today. Post this link on your Facebook wall and text three neighbors who have kids at St. John right now. Email your board representative this morning to demand they keep our current staffing levels.
Reached 250 supporters
June 29, 2016
June 29, 2016
We just crossed one hundred signatures. Post this link on your Facebook page right now and email our local board representative to let them know we are paying attention.
Reached 100 supporters
June 28, 2016
119 Comments
My son will not be going to St John as of Sept because his marks have gone way down since the class size has gone way up at St John. The teacher has done what she can but with this many kids in the class it's hard to give the attention to the kids as it is - no more cuts!!! Good luck St. John community.
This is an issue that affects all of the students negatively. Some students require additional assistance, if they are not receiving it from a source beyond the classroom teacher then that teacher's ability to provide the necessary attention to the other students is severely diminished.
My son has high functioning Aspergers. He just graduated grade 8 at St. John School. He needed integration into a neurotypical classroom. If the current cuts were in place, that would not have been possible. No other options exist for such high functioning ASD kids!
We have experienced significant cuts for three years in a row. The result of those cuts has now become evident in the running of the school. This school is too large to expect one Principal to handle all administrative and disciplinary duties that are required.
You have already taken away our child services worker & reduced our VP to 1/2 time. We also no longer have a full time librarian. Private school is looking better all the time. Sadly, for many families that is not an option.
Unacceptable
Save money and destroy future generations.
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The board has officially reversed the cuts to our vice principal and educational assistant positions. Keep a close watch on the upcoming budget meetings to ensure these roles remain fully protected.
September 11, 2016
Final supporters
As a parent community, we have just been informed that the school and our children will be losing the .5 assignment of the Vice Principal and one FT Educational Assistant with the expectation that further cuts within our special education programs and School might occur.
As a parent community, we find this completely unacceptable and are asking the board and ministry to reconsider both of these decisions.
In 2013, we went from having a full time VP to a half time VP. Most recently, our current VP, Ms. Brault, was kept amply busy with her duties ranging from Special Education, teacher appraisals, parent communication lead, Parent/Student Reading Program, First Aid/CPR, CSPC Member, Health/Safety, discipline, and overseeing developmental assets all while being the second in command to our also busy Principal, Ms. Anne Martin. Ms. Brault has been managing the role formidably, but there has never been a moment where her role/responsibilities have been redundant within the school.
Her role is now being omitted from the administration which begs the question of who will now be taking on her long list of responsibilities moving forward. We have a teaching staff on a work-to-rule so asking them to take on more responsibility is clearly not an option. The sophistication and expertise that comes from years as a teacher and administrator means that Ms. Brault’s duties cannot (and should not) be reassigned to our school’s only one FT and 1 PT office support staff.
Secondly, St. Johns is a school of 450 students, of which 77 require a broad range of special education support representing almost 20% of the student population. The majority of the IEP students are in Grades 4-8, with the majority w/ ADHD/anxiety which we know requires additional in-class support to keep them on task. St. Johns currently has 1.0 Special Education teacher allocation and as of September 2016 will have only 1 full-time Education Assistant.
The decision to cut Ms. Josie Medeiros, a FT Education Assistant in our Special Education Program, with 16 year tenure at St. Johns, is completely unacceptable. Ms. Medeiros has fulfilled a wide list of duties ranging from student supervision, assisting students with lessons, assistance to students which have mental and physical disabilities with challenges of mobility, communication and personal hygiene. She helps with the marking of tests and work sheets, she teaches small support modified programs like math, she takes notes for children that are unable to transcribe from boards and she assists with the loading and unloading of over 100 students that take school bus transportation.
She is the only EA certified to work with Autistic Students and she carries out dozens of other necessary duties and responsibilities that are essential for our school and student body. Most importantly she is a support to students that require medical assistance and currently assists a student that requires catheterization.
We are asking the board/ministry to provide us with a detailed plan of how, with these cuts, you are going to provide the necessary support to fulfill the needs of all of the St. John students including the Special Education students and how you are going to measure success and progress.
As a parent community, we sent letters of concern, disbelief and outrage last year at this time and are doing so again this year because we care about our kids, our school and our community.
Please reconsider your decisions above because simply stating “it’s just not in the budget” is not acceptable moving forward.
Updates
June 29, 2016
We hit 250 signatures today. Post this link on your Facebook wall and text three neighbors who have kids at St. John right now. Email your board representative this morning to demand they keep our current staffing levels.
Reached 250 supporters
June 29, 2016
June 29, 2016
We just crossed one hundred signatures. Post this link on your Facebook page right now and email our local board representative to let them know we are paying attention.
Reached 100 supporters
June 28, 2016
119 Comments
My daughter is one of the 77 students that will be impacted. Ciara was diagnosed with mild Cerebral Palsy and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Without the CDSB support we will have to switch school boards so that Ciara can has the tools to be successful. Your cuts to the front lines are unacceptable!
My son will not be going to St John as of Sept because his marks have gone way down since the class size has gone way up at St John. The teacher has done what she can but with this many kids in the class it's hard to give the attention to the kids as it is - no more cuts!!! Good luck St. John community.
This is an issue that affects all of the students negatively. Some students require additional assistance, if they are not receiving it from a source beyond the classroom teacher then that teacher's ability to provide the necessary attention to the other students is severely diminished.
My son has high functioning Aspergers. He just graduated grade 8 at St. John School. He needed integration into a neurotypical classroom. If the current cuts were in place, that would not have been possible. No other options exist for such high functioning ASD kids!
We have experienced significant cuts for three years in a row. The result of those cuts has now become evident in the running of the school. This school is too large to expect one Principal to handle all administrative and disciplinary duties that are required.
You have already taken away our child services worker & reduced our VP to 1/2 time. We also no longer have a full time librarian. Private school is looking better all the time. Sadly, for many families that is not an option.
Unacceptable
Save money and destroy future generations.
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My daughter is one of the 77 students that will be impacted. Ciara was diagnosed with mild Cerebral Palsy and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Without the CDSB support we will have to switch school boards so that Ciara can has the tools to be successful. Your cuts to the front lines are unacceptable!