Special education cuts made as Windsor-Essex public school board tries to balance books

More than 60 jobs will be cut at the Greater Essex County District School Board, trustees decided Tuesday, in a "restructuring" of one of its special education programs and the elimination of others as part of a plan to get back to a balanced budget. 

In a recorded vote, with two trustees in opposition, the board approved a multi-year financial recovery plan. The plan is mandated by the Ministry of Education after the board presented a budget this year with a deficit that amounted to 1.4 per cent of its operating allocation. 

With the plan, the board will have two years to get back to a balanced budget. The plan looks specifically at programs and jobs that are currently unfunded by the ministry. 

The plan phases out the board's international baccalaureate (IB) program and eliminates the IB primary years program. 

The gallery at Tuesday's meeting was packed with people concerned with the cuts. Many were parents with children in special education programs, while others were representatives of those educators and one delegation spoke about the IB program. 

The board's decision was met with outcry from the gallery, prompting board chair Gale Hatfield to ask the gallery to leave — though many were already on the way out of the room. 

The plan eliminates 34.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) in a "restructuring" of the Reaching Individual Success and Excellence (RISE) program. 

Ilana Mizel is the parent of a child in the RISE program. Visibly emotional while speaking to the board, she likened the program cut to "abandoning" children.

"It's a lifeline for students including my son," she said. 

"We're essentially telling these children and their families that they are not worth the investment."

Mizel said her eight-year-old son had struggled in school before he was put in the RISE program, which is a partially integrated classroom. She says he's been distressed at the thought the program won't be around.  

Following the decision, Mizel said the decision "failed the entire community."

"They failed all of the children with special needs that rely on the RISE program, and they did so without appropriate consultation or quite frankly, answers to the questions that were asked by trustees during this board meeting," she said. "I think that the board made a decision tonight without any information.

"They were eager to fulfil their obligation to address a deficit in education, and they rubber stamped a proposal that will actually destroy children's lives."

Joanna Conrad is a parent of three, one of whom has Down Syndrome. She says she's worried the next program to go will be the one her daughter uses. But she says the repercussions of the decision will ripple out into all classrooms and could impact educator burnout. 

"I know there's going to be students added to their classrooms that have very high needs, whether those are behavioural, whether those are emotional, whether those are intellectual, and it's only going to take away from their education," she said. "Who's actually benefiting here, right? Like at the end of the day, nobody's learning."

Another delegation on Tuesday's agenda spoke about the cutting of another program on the agenda, the international baccalaureate (IB) program. 

"The decision being made that really came as a shock to all parents," said Francine Salinitri, a parent of two students in the pre-IB and IB programs.

Salinitri said the board had not considered the ramifications of cutting the program, including the potential that students would move to the English Catholic board to continue in the program, which takes funding out of the board. 

During the meeting, a trustee asked whether the plan could be amended to allow current students to graduate. But staff said that amendment would not meet the deficit obligations in the plan and it would need to be reworked, and the plan was not changed. 

Hatfield told reporters the decision was not an easy one for trustees. 

"This is not easy to deal with, it's very personal and very emotional for many of the people that spoke to us," she said. 

"However we have a legal obligation to have a balanced budget … I am confident that our administration presented us with the best option to consider."

Hatfield says the plan includes a commitment to consultation on the next steps. 

"I think there's a lot of misconceptions about what happened tonight. We certainly haven't eliminated our special education department in any way. So services will still be provided, they just may look different," she said. "But we will never abandon our students. That is always our first priority."

The approved plan will be submitted to the Ministry of Education by Nov. 30.