ESL cuts could be reversed

Public schools can add staff to cope with Syrian refugees, chair says

Ottawa’s largest school board could reverse plans to cut ESL teachers to cope with the influx of Syrian refugee children, says the chair of the board.

The board began debate Tuesday on an austerity budget that includes eliminating four ESL teachers.

But some ESL teachers could be added back once the board has the final number of Syrian children enrolled in schools, chair Shirley Seward said. The number of academic staff was set in March to meet teacher contract deadlines, and included a reduction of 34 positions, but it can be adjusted, she said.

By September, 500 Syrian children are expected to be enrolled at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

“We welcome these kids,” said Seward, who says they will enrich the environment for everyone and bring a global perspective. “We’re bringing the world to our kids.”

The influx of Syrian children also means the board will receive extra per-pupil grants from the province, she said.

It will be a difficult budget year for the board, which for the past half-dozen years has spent money from an accumulated surplus to enrich programs, especially for special-education students. But the surplus is nearly gone, and the board has to make cuts, she said.

The proposed cuts include elimination of some school office staff, administrators at head office, and educational assistants who work alongside teachers in classrooms.

“I’m kind of horrified,” said Nancy Akehurst, district vice-president of the union that represents those staff. “It’s going to have a huge impact on everybody.”

School office staff are already overworked, she said, because they have to cope with new tasks such as electronically submitted report cards and security buzzers. And because many office staff work part-time, the proposed cut of 11 full-time equivalent positions will affect about 40 people, she said. The staff are some of the lowestpaid in the board, she said.

Her union issued a news release noting that senior staff at the board had received salary increases while office staff had not.

The educational assistants work in the classroom, helping children who are medically fragile, disabled, have learning disabilities, medical conditions or behavioural problems.

“These cuts are going to impact the classroom,” said Cheryl Cavell, president of the bargaining unit that represents the educational assistants.

Classroom teachers are under growing stress because of an increasing number of students with autism, mental health problems such as anxiety, and severe behaviour problems, said Janet Fraser, a vice-president of the OttawaCarleton Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario. “We’re not happy about cuts to staff.”

The educational assistants are vital to help students with special needs, she said.

But trustees have little choice about making cuts, she said. “I don’t have any doubts the board is doing the best it can.”

Provincial grants to the school board have been cut by one per cent this year, Seward said.