A classroom at John Dolan School in Saskatoon, where many of the students have complex disabilities and require special care.As teachers across Saskatchewan press for renewed funding and resources in contract talks with the province, a former special needs educator is speaking up about the role government cuts played in her decision to leave the profession.
“I was not comfortable with that because I just know the ins and outs of the ethics,” she said. “What if they pocket and don’t take it? What are the implications for me as a teacher who’s not supposed to be administering medication if something goes wrong?” He said the school, which is funded solely by Saskatoon Public Schools, spends about $3.8 million annually on students, student supports and nurses.“The way that we fund that is that we just spend less everywhere else,” Burke said. “So our other 27,000, 28,000 students get a bit less supports, whether that’s in the classroom, caretaking, indirectly, transportation… Somehow we have to make that up, but that’s a choice that we have to make.
Luke Robson, father of nine-year-old student, Sadie, said his daughter has attended four schools in the last four years. She finally found the perfect fit at John Dolan.