Dufferin-Peel Catholic Chapter
40
Matheson Blvd. West
Mississauga, ON L5R 1C5
PRESENTATION BY DAN MILNE, PRESIDENT, AT THE
MAY 10, 2007, PUBLIC BUDGET MEETINGS:
Trustees, Senior Administration, Mr Hartmann
Thank you for the opportunity
to speak with you this evening. As you
know my name is Dan Milne and I have the honour of serving this year as the
President of the Dufferin-Peel Catholic Chapter of the Association of
Professional Student Services Personnel representing approximately 190 school
psychologists, child and youth workers, speech and language pathologists and
social workers serving in our schools throughout Dufferin-Peel. We have the privilege of working with some of
our most vulnerable and at-risk students.
We have mixed feelings related
to presenting in this forum this evening as we are well aware that we are
appealing to a government appointed supervisor and not to the duly elected
representatives of our local community.
A few months ago the provincial president of APSSP, representing
professionals in 8 Catholic and 1 public school board in the province wrote the
Minister of Education to register APSSP’s concern with the government’s
decision to appoint a supervisor. Our
Provincial President stated the following in her letter and I quote from one
paragraph:
….APSSP has a rich history in Dufferin-Peel
Catholic of working cooperatively with its trustees toward the mutual goal of
supporting the most vulnerable and at-risk students. The services provided by these school based
educational specialists have expanded over the years because local decision-makers
have recognized the value of those services.
They realized these services are a critical part of ensuring that all
children have an equal opportunity to benefit from our education system….
This year our trustees made a
decision not to support cuts to our classrooms.
However the cuts were implemented by our provincial government and we
have made a choice to come here tonight to share the impact that decision has
had on our most vulnerable and at-risk students. This past school year over 480 of these
youngsters have paid the price of lost service.
These are students who struggle to deal with challenges in understanding
the language of the curriculum, who come to school with behavioural challenges,
who need emotional support to deal through no fault of their own with family
loses and mental health challenges if we hope to offer them some fairness of
educational opportunity. These are the
students who are now less likely to have a fair chance at success in school as
a result of the decision to cut child and youth work, speech and language
pathology, psychology and social work staff.
These 480 vulnerable and at-risk
students paid the price of staff cuts. However
this number does not even include the indirect loss in the value added services
provided by these school based professionals, such as bullying prevention,
social skills groups, and other preventative classroom programs. The number also doesn’t include the 50 plus
additional students added to a psychological assessment wait list that is
already over 1000 students as a result of the provincial government decision to
cut school psychology staff.
Can you imagine living in the
shoes of a youngster in Grade 4 struggling academically as a result of an
undiagnosed learning disability? Or
imagine being the parent receiving those dreaded calls from the school to hear
reports of misbehaviour that is clearly related to the child’s undiagnosed
learning challenges.
We know that it may be
unreasonable to respond to every educational challenge presented by our
students; however we are deeply concerned that this year, under the supervision
of the provincial government, we have moved backwards in our collective efforts.
While for years the focus has
been on funding additional needs of the Toronto District School Board, and the
provision of one time funding to assist with its funding challenges there has
been a failure in the education ministry and social service circles to pay
attention to the emerging school needs of the GTA. Brampton and Mississauga both have their
inner cities; our families suffer from issues related to poverty and share all
the social problems of our Toronto neighbour.
Our children have learning challenges and our population includes many
new Canadians, some who have left traumatic circumstances in other parts of the
world. A limited transportation
infrastructure adds to the isolation of many of our families in their attempts
to access services for their children.
Probably more than any school in Toronto the schools in Dufferin-Peel
are a life line for many students and families.
Our trustees have recognized this over the years. Unfortunately this year the cuts illustrate
we are not being well served by the micro management style of the present Ministry
of Education and the unbelievable silence of our local Liberal MPP’s as the
largest Catholic School Board in their jurisdiction has struggled with funding
challenges.
Let us not stand here and fool
ourselves into believing that the budget cuts have not impacted directly on the
classroom. Try to tell that to the
teacher burdened by multiple classroom demands with diminished support to help
with their most challenging students.
Try to tell that to the parent of the frustrated student who is yet
again calling the school to hear that their child is on a support service wait
list or to the principal (themselves stretched further than ever) having to
deal with increased numbers of students lined up as a result of behavioural
problems because their child and youth worker is no longer available to provide
a sound behavioural program. Tell that
to the parent struggling to get the help they need to get a child with an
anxiety disorder back in school and on track.
While our Boards financial
deficit may be shrinking let us not shrink from the truth that a significant
price has been paid in this process by our most challenged students. As we look forward to the new budget year we
are asking the provincial government through our supervisor to reinvest in the
professional services that have been cut.
We are asking you to consider in a thoughtful way the additional
investments that need to be made in professional school staff in order to meet
many of the challenges ahead including our obligations to respond to Bill 52
and the new Safe Schools Act.
Respectfully Submitted
Dan Milne
President
APSSP Dufferin-Peel Catholic
Chapter