Parents worry students being left behind in Saskatchewan

Hello Flatlanders,

This week, we are looking at the Saskatchewan teacher contract situation that the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) has spent the last nine months trying to reach a resolution on with the provincial government.

For those in Manitoba who might not follow the news in Saskatchewan, there has been growing tension between the STF, parents’ and the provincial government.

The dispute is about more than salaries. Teachers want more funding to support growing classroom sizes and resources to hire more specialized staff to help with an ever larger number of students with intensive needs.

While the Saskatchewan government has increased the education budget year over year, it hasn’t been nearly enough to keep up with inflation, and the STF says a lack of money is making it difficult to maintain the status quo.

Humboldt-based freelance journalist Becky Zimmer wrote a story for The Flatlander highlighting one student’s lack of access to speech therapy. Those parents who can afford it can hire private sessions outside the classroom, but some children are being left behind.

Meanwhile, Becky’s reporting finds that another student, who uses a wheelchair, is at risk of being injured in falls in a Saskatchewan school because of the resources lacking to assist her.

In June 2022, The Flatlander flagged that inflation was hurting Prairie schools and that provincial funding in Saskatchewan and Manitoba wasn’t keeping up, causing school boards to make difficult decisions.

There have been several rallies across the province over the last several months, and the teachers have done some rotating strikes and have plans for more as resumed negotiations this week reached an impasse. ( I’ll have to look into how Manitoba is doing with its current education funding).

On another note, there were a lot of reader questions and comments about The Flatlander’s issue on genetically modified food, so I have been researching the topic more and am finishing up an article where I will address some of your inquiries and concerns.

But in the meantime, here is Becky’s story.

Parents worried students being left behind, teachers’ union wants more classroom supports

Saskatchewan parents are frustrated by the lack of support available to their children at their schools.

One Humboldt parent, Lindsay Gabriel, said the shortage of education resources has put her daughter, who uses a wheelchair, at risk of injury.

There are no specialized desks and equipment for her child.

This means Gabriel’s daughter has had multiple falls while transferring in and out of her wheelchair, one of which resulted in a concussion.

Her daughter hasn’t had an appointment with a school occupational therapist in over a year. Such a staff member could help Gabriel’s daughter work through this problem. And, even when she has seen the therapist in the past, the appointments are short, only lasting 10 minutes.

This ongoing problem compelled Gabriel to speak at a rally in Humboldt in October, where 200 people gathered outside Finance Minister Donna Harpauer’s office.

Besides improving her daughter’s learning environment and safety, Gabriel said accessibility within the entire school is also an issue.

At her daughter’s school, students with disabilities have no access to the stage to participate with classmates during concerts, and there are only two wheelchair-accessible doors in and out of her school out of a possible five. Gabriel worries what will happen if there ever was a need to evacuate quickly.

Another one of Gabriel’s children needs a speech-language pathologist, and last school year, her child was only seen twice.

“There is no opportunity for meaningful practice of speech with two visits in 10 months and no EA (educational assistant) support in the school to assist the practice either,” she said at the Humboldt rally. “Some families can work with private providers to support their children, but this is simply not an option for all families. And why should these students be left behind?”

Gabriel said teachers have always been strong advocates for her children, and speaking up at the Humboldt rally was a small way she could support them in return.

She said that if parents want things to improve for teachers and their kids, they must start doing the same.

Another parent, Kisanne Geis, said she has had to advocate for her son Hamilton since he started Pre-K in Assiniboia.

Now in Grade 1, he never knows which EA he will be working with on any given day or knows where he’ll be working.

The lack of educational professionals has also been an ongoing concern for Geis because few child psychologists and occupational therapists within the school division means she must pull Hamilton from school and take time off work to attend private appointments.

Geis was one of 500 people who went to a rally in Moose Jaw outside Minister of Education Jeremy Cockrill’s office in October.

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF), the union that represents 13,500 Saskatchewan teachers, has spent the last nine months trying to negotiate an increased education budget to deal with growing class sizes and to hire more specialized staff to help children like Gabriel’s and Geis’ with intensive needs, as the number of students with special requirements has grown by more than 38 per cent over a 10-year-period.

The government and the STF were back negotiating this week. It had been four months since the two sides had been at the bargaining table. However, the talks did not last long. On Tuesday, the two sides were at an impasse.
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Read the rest of the story here.