Questions raised with SD22

Questions have been raised by parents regarding staffing and use of funds within School District 22.

13-year-old Necko Chisolm has to fly to Burnaby every week to attend the B.C. School for the Deaf. He had gone to Harwood Elementary up until the fall but was pulled out due to the inconsistencies regarding support staffing.

“It would be great to be able to learn here,” said Necko’s mother Treina Chisolm.

“But that is diminished when he does not have access to language or access to his EAs.”

Use of funding:

In a statement, School District 22 SuperIntendent Karla Mitchell said “Inclusive education funding is spent on meeting the needs of learners through resources, programs, supports and staff.” But Chisolm is questioning where that money is going.

“If they are not willing to tell us where this money is going, then our government and ministry of education should be questioning the people that they are employed too,” said Chisolm.

Support staffing numbers:

Mitchell continued her statement by saying “Our current Educational Assistant (EA) positions are filled, and we have some EAs on the casual list who fill day-to-day absences.”

Chisholm noted that she never saw an EA job posting available for Necko.

“I’m a little disturbed that they can say something like that when my son was not covered with an EA.”

Necko is not the only one who has gone through this. In a statement, parents who asked to remain anonymous said “Our children have not had one-on-one time with an education assistant in over 4 years. Just because they have one assigned to them, does not mean that they are seen or involved directly with our children.”

They continued by saying “Any support we have got for our children has come from us paying privately for support and most families cannot do that.”

“Our children that have disabilities are not getting the support they need.”

Chisholm says that Necko is flourishing at his new school but wishes that he could have those same resources in his hometown.