A different approach in the Winnipeg School Division to the way some learners receive additional support could mean more students with disabilities in traditional classrooms next year.
The changes initially sparked questions among some parents, said Rachel Smith, a mom of four and a founding member of the Family Advocacy Network of Manitoba, which supports parents, family members and caregivers to people living with intellectual and physical disabilities.
“So of course this caused a lot of concern for a lot of parents,” said Smith, who co-chairs the Family Advocacy Network’s inclusive education action group.
Smith contacted superintendent Matt Henderson about the changes. What followed was a letter from the division dated March 19. In it, Henderson said he wants principals and school teams to think about how students in specialized programs can be included “in the life of a school and how resources can be used to maximize learning for all.”
In the letter, Henderson said the WSD is “asking schools, when possible, to hold onto their kids so that children can attend their neighbourhood schools with their peers.”
In the letter Henderson said, “WSD is not reducing programming for learners who require supports from inclusive services.”
Those services include programs to support students living with anxiety, autism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
The division also offers an adaptive skills program, learning assistance, supported education classrooms, skills for independent living as well as a therapeutic academic program.
“WSD wants to ensure that the supports for every child are in all our schools,” Henderson stated in the letter. “We are asking that the default is not a program, but a move to programming in a community school.”
After speaking with Henderson herself, Smith sees the new approach as offering families more of a choice on whether they want their child to attend a specialized program or go to their catchment school.
“My understanding from the conversation that I had with him is that they were not planning to cut any of the specialized programming … but that they were going to be looking at the catchment neighbourhood school as an option for students, kind of as a first exploration,” Smith said.
She said she had to fight for her 14-year-old son Ryder, who lives with cerebral palsy, a cognitive disability and uses a wheelchair to get around, to go to their catchment school when he started going to school.
“There were numerous times where it was suggested that he would be better off in a program outside of our neighbourhood and that wasn’t what we wanted for him,” Smith said.
“So to me, what’s happening now is I wouldn’t have to have that fight in this day and age in the Winnipeg School Division.”
The looming changes sparked a meeting late Monday afternoon between the superintendent and educational assistants.
Henderson told CBC during a brief phone call that Monday’s meeting, dubbed a “fireside chat,” was to assure EAs there are no job cuts.
He declined further comment until after he addressed staff during the meeting.
Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union, which represents more than 1,168 part-time and full-time EAs in the Winnipeg School Division, said members are looking for clarity about what the changes mean.
“When our members don’t have the information, you tend to get fearful of what’s going to happen and our members really want to know what’s involved in their future,” Ross said in an interview, adding members are looking for assurances there’ll be no job losses.
Gregg Walker, president of the Winnipeg Teachers’ Association, said in an emailed statement the union appreciates innovation and improvement of education programming that’s implemented collaboratively, with input from educators who understand the unique needs of their students and communities.
“As we work through these changes, it will be crucial that teachers’ voices continue to be heard in evaluating their effectiveness for students,” he said.
Henderson said the budget for inclusive services has not been cut and exceeds $100 million, and that the division is adding more classroom and learning support teachers.
He said the division wants families to be in control of the education of their children, and, if they wish to enrol them in a specific inclusive program, it will be accommodated in consultation with school principals.
Smith thinks all learners can benefit, as long as there’s enough support and EAs can recognize if or when a student with additional needs requires a break from the classroom.
“I think, honestly, having students with additional needs in a regular classroom, it’s beneficial to everyone,” she said.
“I have seen other students who have grown up alongside my son — I think they’re better people for having him in their class and I’ve had parents come up to my husband and I and tell us that having my son in their class has been such a positive experience for their children.”