Parent, NDP urge province to step in, prevent layoffs of educational assistants in Saskatoon

The Saskatchewan NDP is calling for the provincial government to step in and prevent the layoffs of 80 educational assistants at Saskatoon Public Schools.

On Feb. 5, the school division announced it had to end the contracts due to a shortfall in expected federal funding under Jordan's Principle.

In a note to parents, the school division said it hired additional educational assistants, expecting to receive federal dollars from Indigenous Services Canada as part of the Jordan's Principle initiative, which is meant to ensure Indigenous children receive the health, social and education services they need.

On Monday, NDP education critic Matt Love called on the provincial government to step in and fund the positions. 

"We need more educational assistants, not less. We're already dealing with the shortage. This shortage has led to a number of families having children who are not allowed to attend school on a full-time basis, simply because they don't have the supports," Love said. 

CBC reached out to the provincial government for response but did not hear back before deadline. 

Erin Gerwing's son is in Grade 2 at Silverspring School and needs a one-on-one EA, as well as consistent routines.

"My son is autistic, ADHD, and hyperlexic. He's a genius, but he does fall behind socially and he is not able to probably take care of himself. He has the potential to be anything in the world, but he won't be able to reach that potential without support going through school," she said. 

Constantly switching and losing EAs causes distress and it's difficult for her son to build trust and regulate with someone he isn't comfortable with, she said.  

"The EA was going to be taken away, and we've just been let know that she will be staying with us until April, and then after that, we don't really know," she said. 

Gerwing said she's angry and frustrated to know that the province has been relying on the federal government for funding and has been underfunding education for years. 

"There should really be no family left behind, like this province should look after everybody," she said. "[It] doesn't matter what it is. You've got to look after the people of the province."

She said she's scared for herself and for all the families whose kids are going to be left behind. 

"If we leave the kids behind now and don't help them now, what is their future going to be like? And that is, as a parent, a very specific concern of mine, what my son's future looks like, and we need all the help we can get to get him where he needs to be."

Gerwing said she's been fighting and advocating for her son since he was in preschool and that every year there's a new fight that is exhausting for parents like her, constantly battling the basic right to education. 

"It's a basic right of children to be in school with their peers. Families are exhausted, emotionally, financially," she said.