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249 Saunders Road, Unit 3 Barrie, Ontario L4N 6C1
705.739.7232 
opseu330@opseu330.com
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249 Saunders Road, Unit 3 Barrie, Ontario L4N 6C1 705.739.7232 opseu330@opseu330.comNew information from the Ministry of Education may mean significant changes for some of Ontario's students who have special needs.
On December 19 2011 a memo was released to Ontario School Boards from Barry Finlay Director of the Special Education Policy and Programs Branch.
I have met Mr Findlay on a couple of occasions when he presented to the Support Workers Advisory Group. (SWAG ).
He has spoken of the changes coming to the Special Education Guide, and reading this memo I am encouraged to believe that this new information from the Ministry of Education may mean significant changes for some of Ontario's students who have special needs.
The memo explains that "all students with demonstrable learning based needs" including conditions such as ADD/ADHD, Tourette Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, are entitled to appropriate special education programs and services and may qualify to be identified as "exceptional."
The memo is significant because under the Education Act, students who have been identified as 'exceptional' have a legal right to receive special education programs and services. There are five types of exceptionalities (Behaviour, Communication, Intellectual, Physical and Multiple) that qualify students for support. And up to now, school boards have used the lists of conditions in the Ministry of Education's Special Education Guide to help them decide what kinds of particular conditions fit under those five general headings.
What is noteworthy is the December memo says the guide is meant to be "interpreted broadly," and that many medical conditions - including conditions "such as (but not limited to) Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Tourette Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome" may qualify students as exceptional under the Education Act. The new memo emphasizes that the list of conditions in the guide is not intended to exclude any conditions.
The memo appears to indicate change in special education policy, because until now it has often taken strenuous advocacy to get a child who has been diagnosed with something like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or ADD/ADHD identified as "exceptional" in the legal sense - often because those kinds of conditions were not on the list in the Special Education Guide. The memo appears to say that any medical condition that affects students' ability to learn, may qualify a student to be identified as "exceptional."
The Ministry also clarified that "the determining factor for the provision of special education programs or services is not any specific diagnosed or undiagnosed medical condition, but rather the needs of individual students based on the individual assessment of strengths and needs."
I am hopeful that we not only see a broader interpretation of the Special Education Guide, but that we see changes to the funding formula so that we can support students with special needs.
Supporting the work of educational support workers,
In solidarity,
Good Afternoon OPSEU members,
Mandatory PD training, Registration opens for one week starting Monday, January 16, 2012 at 4:00pm
As you are aware, your local was the driving force behind the increased number of paidprofessional development (PD) days provided for in our Collective Agreement, and we have also been encouraging the employer to provide enough spots of quality PD on those days, for all permanent and long time occasional EAs.
Over the last several years, many EAs have complained about not being able to sign up for PD sessions, either because the sessions were full, or there were not enough spaces available. This is no longer the case.
The work that we do, and the level of expertise and professionalism that is required in our positions now, requires us to be knowledgeable and updated on new methods and initiatives, to allow us to develop our skills working and supporting the broad spectrum of needs we see in our daily working lives. As we are assigned to the school, and not the student, it is imperative that we are cross trained in all aspects of special education-it can only be to our benefit to take full advantage of these sessions.
We are pleased that the employer recognizes how valuable a resource we are to the Special Education team, and in doing so have provided more PD spaces than EAs. One other change is that they have made these PD sessions mandatory with paid mileage; the only exception to paid mileage would be sessions sponsored and paid for by your Local.
This does not mean that all future PD will be mandatory, but we need to be proactive and jump at all PD opportunities. All EAs must sign up for a PD session. Please ensure that you remain at the training for the full paid day-usually 8.30a.m -- 4p.m. check the information when you sign up; it may be necessary for you to rearrange your daily activities in order to accommodate any extra travelling time needed to attend a session in a different community.
Your local is also sponsoring First Aid on the 2 Secondary PD days in Feb, we have 40 spots available and lunch will be provided, however, we are not able to cover the cost of mileage.
Since you only have a week to register, I would also like to suggest that you take some time and ensure that your sign in password works for Monday, if not, you can now make a password change on line.
On Friday your Principal received Memos 131 and 132, outlining the workshops, I will also try to get a copy of the memo uploaded on our local website this weekend for you to see.
Memo 2011-2012: 31 (Elementary)
Memo 2011-2012: 32 (Secondary)
Good Morning OPSEU members,
Passing on an invitation to attend a workshop presented by OSSTF Human Rights Committee on Monday, Jan 16 2012 at the OPSEU/ETFO Office.
The main focus of this workshop is, Challenging Homophobia: Strategies for Effective Intervention. We, as support staff are mandated under the Education Act, Bill 157 Safe Schools, to respond and report all signs of bullying.
The purpose of responding to incidents of inappropriate and disrespectful behaviour is to stop and correct the behaviour immediately so that the students involved can learn that it is unacceptable. Behaviour that is not addressed becomes accepted behaviour.
I was encouraged to see this workshop opened to both Federations and OPSEU staff. Working together as teams of educators, all on the same page will ensure that these Ministry initiatives are successful. Workshops like these will add to our tool box of skills, to assist us in ensuring that schools are safe, comfortable and a place where all staff and students can feel accepted.
Here is an opportunity to participate with other teachers and support staff to learn some strategies on how to intervene and work towards supporting students in developing positive behaviours.
They have limited space, so please RSVP if you are interested. My understanding is they will provide more opportunities for this workshop in the future if the response is good.
In solidarity,Good afternoon OPSEU staff,
Happy New Year, I hope all of you had some time to rest and relax over the holiday period, and are refreshed and ready to be back at work.
Over the break I had several emails and phone calls regarding EI, and our pay increase, I hope you were all able to muddle through EI, and hopefully, we do not have a repeat of last year regarding the threatening letters from EI, but if some of you do receive them, we will deal with that too. Just do not stress over it, it can be fixed.
As for our pay increase, it was a 3% jump to your hourly rate, go to the payroll portal, using your January 6 2012, the easiest way to insure you received the increase is to go to the bottom right hand of the stub, Hourly Rate. That will be up by 3% from your Dec 23 2011 pay stub.
What you will also notice is that OMERS increased deductions to cover the shortfall in pension money. Unfortunately we have no control over that, leaving you wondering where you increase went.
2012 is an exciting year as we are going into bargaining, I have had two meetings with the Ministry of Education, and it appears they do not want to lose site of the Provincial Discussion, and I happy feel we are moving towards that process again.
My next meeting with the Ministry is scheduled for Feb 2012, where I believe we will have more information about time lines.
We are presently working on a survey for the membership regarding demands for this round; we hope to use Survey Monkey so we can have as many members participate as possible. We will as per the OPSEU Constitution have a demands set meeting, which we hope to coincide with our next GM meeting, possibly sometime in March.
If you have not provided a home email, or do not seem to be receiving home emails, please connect with me, and I will add you to the distribution list.
In solidarity,If you'd like to know who your school's contact person is, please refer to this list.
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