September 14, 1998
(Education)

Department working with Boards of Education
to resolve concerns about provision of student assistants

Education Minister Roger Grimes said today his department is working quickly to deal with concerns of parents and school boards relating to the provision of student assistants for children with special needs.

"We are working with school boards to ensure that students who need student assistants are properly assessed and that they get the help they need," the minister said. "There are approximately 1,800 students who require the service of student assistants."

"We are still seeking information from some boards to allow proper arrangements to be put in place," Mr. Grimes said. "Four districts resubmitted their information by September 11 and will receive their adjusted allocation on schedule September 15. However, we expect to receive all required information by the end of this week from the other districts, including the largest - Avalon East and move quickly to get students the help they need."

Mr. Grimes noted that the Department of Education has reinstated the process whereby it is handling directly the profiling of students requiring student assistant time in schools. This approach involves the uniform application of criteria for all school boards and ensures fairness throughout all regions of the province. The original criteria by which students are assessed for student assistant time has not been changed since last year, the minister said, noting that his department's aim is to help those most in need and that any student who meets the criteria will receive a level of service.

Government has committed greater resources to the provision of student assistants this year than last and is working hard to improve the educational experience of students with special needs, he said. This year's budget has been increased by $300,000 to a level of $7 million despite declining student enrollments, he noted.

"In addition to budgeting additional funds for student assistants, we have also provided an additional $3 million for special education teachers in response to the Special Matters Report," Mr. Grimes said. "We are also providing an additional $250,000 for educational materials for children with learning disabilities and $250,000 for early literacy programs, particularly in the area of remedial reading."

Media contact: Carl Cooper, Communications, (709) 729-0048.

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STUDENT ASSISTANT PROGRAM
FACT SHEET

The Student Assistant Program is a needs-based program and the needs of any student may change from year-to-year. Students who are severely mentally handicapped having few or no verbal skills or are non-mobile and are not toilet trained and have few or no self help skills are provided services. Students with severe physical disabilities and requiring constant adult attention to function in the classroom receive services. The third group of students are those who exhibit severe behaviour problems and need constant adult supervision to prevent injury to themselves or others.

The original criteria used for the assignment of student assistants has not changed. In fact it is the same criteria which has been used since the program began. The allocation of student assistants is done on a school-by-school basis to ensure fairness of access in all parts of the province.

Student assistants are not assigned for teaching purposes but are provided in addition to special education teacher support which has been increased this year by approximately $3M in response to the Special Matters Report. For example, student assistants are there to assist children complete personal care functions such as toileting, they make sure children with severe physical disabilities get from class to class safely and carry out behaviour management plans ensuring students do not continue to physically harm themselves or others.

Government's budget for student assistants has increased from $6.7M in 1997-1998 to $7M in 1998-1999 despite the fact that the overall student population has been declining by approximately 4,000 students in each of the last two years.

Approximately 1,200 children have been assigned services of a student assistant. Also another 417 have been assigned the services of a teacher on a ratio of one to six children because of their intense needs.

Government is committed to helping those students most in need and has been working closely with the boards since February of this year. Four districts have re-submitted their information by September 11 and will receive their adjusted allocations on schedule on September 15. The department will review other submissions as districts submit them.

1998 09 14              3:45 p.m.