New Brunswick’s child and youth advocate says the school districts aren’t doing everything they can to ensure students with disabilities are kept with the same education assistants when it serves the best interests of the children.
Kelly Lambrock is now calling on the Department of Education to implement a policy by September that would oblige the districts to take advantage of a clause in education assistants’ collective agreement, which would ensure that happens.
In a news conference Thursday, Lamrock released a report from his investigation into the use of the clause, known as the “delicate relationship” clause, contained in the collective agreement between CUPE, the union representing education assistants, and their employer, the school districts .
Lambrock said the clause was introduced in 2008 as a way to prevent an education assistant with more seniority from “bumping” another education assistant out of their position if a specialist deemed that doing so would be detrimental to the student.
Lambrock said that through questioning the province’s seven school districts, he found none of them had taken advantage of that clause in years.
He said it was also unclear whether any districts sought expert advice on when using the clause would benefit a child.
Further, Lamrock said, the option of taking advantage of the clause isn’t being explicitly communicated to parents, and in some cases has been denied.
“It’s one thing not to use it, it’s another thing to never even be curious about using it,” Lamrock said. “It’s another never even to mention it exists.
“And that culture of silence around defeating children’s rights has to stop. You can’t have adults colluding to say ‘Let’s not ask if this affects the child.'”
CBC News asked New Brunswick’s seven school districts what actions would be taken in light of Lamrock’s report.
Jennifer Read, spokesperson for Anglophone School District West, said in an email that the district will reflect on Lamrock’s findings and discuss any next steps as a team.
She said the district has two students who are qualified for a delicate relationship status with their educational assistant, but the district does not track when requests are made.
Meredith Caissie, spokesperson for Anglophone School District North, said the administrative team will take time to review Lamrock’s recommendations, adding that the district currently has no quality students for delicate relationship status with an education assistant, but will have one student next school year.
CBC News also asked the Department of Education about the report, and in an email response, spokesperson Morgan Bell said the department agreed with Lamrock’s recommendations.
“We want to ensure every learner’s needs are met by providing them with the appropriate supports and services,” she said.
The value in having the same EA
Lambrock said that until 2008, the education assistants’ collective agreement allowed an education assistant to claim a position already filled by another education assistant who had several years of service, in practice referred to as bumping.
The introduction of the delicate relationship clause, however, recognized the benefits of keeping a student with the same education assistant if the student had gained a strong sense of familiarity and comfort with that particular staff.
“A number of students — a small number, to be sure, but still some children — rely upon familiarity, trust, and routine in order to feel safe and be able to learn,” wrote Lamrock, in his report.
“Sometimes they have a need for routine due to a unique condition, as with some learners with autism spectrum disorder. Some have conditions which require physical care which is intimate and frequent and these rituals are best carried out by someone the child knows and trusts. “
Complaints from parents and professionals
Lambrock said his investigation was prompted by families and professionals contacting his office to help navigate the issue.
He said one case he heard involved a girl who needed to be fed using a surgically implanted gastronomy tube, which required three weeks of training before an education assistant was prepared to work with her.
Lambrock said her parents tried to get the delicate relationship clause applied to their daughter to prevent regular turnover of educational assistants working with her, but they were unsuccessful.
Other cases involved students being denied protection for an existing relationship with an education assistant.
“Others [cases] have dealt with children with communication or behavioral issues whose individual nuances of communication made familiarity a huge advantage to an assistant seeking to de-escalate the student and avoid having them sent home early.”
Lambrock is also recommending that clauses be applied to temporary workers, in addition to permanent employees, and that the Department of Education tracks the number of delicate relationships by region, including requests for the designation, acceptances, rejections and the corresponding reasons.