Skip to content

Wolf Creek schools see jump in special needs students

More educational assistants hired
8668360_web1_74913_357894274307754_1313566480_n

Wolf Creek Public Schools is wrestling with a 25 per cent jump in students with severe disabilities and says it needs more funding.

In September 80 more severely complex students were enrolled at Wolf Creek bringing the total to 381 in the division and the board recently approved the hiring of seven more full-time equivalent educational assistants.

“We have seen an increase from year to year but to have 80 in one year, we’ve never ever experienced this in the history of Wolf Creek. It’s quite startling,” superintendent Jayson Lovell said.

The division will now employ 140 educational assistants.

He said last year the division introduced a new pre-kindergarten program that would have helped to identify students with challenges, but most of the severely complex students have come to Wolf Creek from outside the division.

A couple new group homes have opened up in Ponoka that could account for some of the increase. The division also has a good reputation for providing students with support, but the mobility of families cannot be predicted, he said.

Lovell said the complexity of needs is also increasing.

“We do have concerns as this trend continues. We need to make sure there is adequate and sustainable funding to ensure we can provide the level of service our students require.”

He said Wolf Creek has a $90-million annual budget and the division puts $11 million towards its inclusion program, mostly for students with severe disabilities, but the province only provides about $5 million for inclusion.

“Just to meet the needs of our most severe students quite often we don’t have enough resources to address the needs of other students who could benefit from additional educational assistant time, or other ways that we can support students.”

The amount of inclusion funding for Wolf Creek students was determined in 2007-08 and has not increased with the growing population, he said.

Lovell said the division will be compiling data on its inclusive student population and will present it to Alberta Education before the end of the year.



szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter