Yukon education minister defends education supports
Yukon Education Minister Elaine Taylor is defending her department's treatment of children with special needs.
Earlier this week, a Whitehorse father said his 9-year-old autistic daughter is not getting the help she needs at Jack Hulland Elementary School.
Questioned yesterday about the issue in the legislature, Taylor said the government is providing support.
But she also said the situation at Jack Hulland school is under review.
“For the past several weeks, our department has been working with the school administration and the school council to review information, the assignment of current staff and the provision of supports so as to ensure those students who require those additional supports certainly are receiving those supports.”
Some parents say the school has told them it cannot meet the demand for assistants with the funding it has.
But they've been told by education department officials the Jack Hulland is adequately funded.
Val Royle, Yukon's deputy minister of education, says the department allocates the number of staff positions to the schools, which the schools then deploy.
"So we're looking at how that works. Is it adequate in this situation? And what do we do from here?"
Royle says another meeting on the issue is set for tomorrow.
More staff, fewer students
The deputy minister adds that the number of para-professionals, including education assistants, in Yukon's education system has more than doubled in the past 12 years, even though the student population has gone down slightly. In 2002, there were 81 para-professionals and more than 5,500 students. Now she says there are 177.75 para-professionals and about 5,100 students.
More than 600 students in Yukon's system are working under individual education plans. Those plans outline educational programs for certain students as determined by school-based teams.
"An education assistant may be part of that plan," Royle says, "if the school allocates that, but there are many other supports that available in addition to education assistants."
Royle says those include speech language therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, learning assistants and counsellors.
"When we look at our staffing allocations and teaching ratio, our allocations of teachers and para-professionals per student, we're the best in Canada," Royle says.
