Latest news with #InclusionAlberta
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Edmonton Public Schools cuts number of seclusion rooms, but confinement continues
Advocates demanding an end to the use of seclusion rooms say they're pleased the Edmonton public school division has decommissioned more than 60 of them in the last year. A new report to the school board last week shows the number of seclusion rooms has dropped by about 37 per cent during the last year, leaving 105 rooms operational in 56 public schools. "We're extremely pleased to see a reduction in the number of seclusion rooms and in the use of those rooms, because quite frankly, the trend over the last few years has been in the other direction," said Trish Bowman, the CEO of Inclusion Alberta. A seclusion room is an empty chamber that can be locked from the outside. Provincial standards dictate that school staff are only to use the rooms in an emergency, when a student presents a danger of harm to themselves or others. Staff are only supposed to put students in the rooms with parents' permission. Division employees have acknowledged that in a crisis, it does sometimes happen without parental consent. For years, Inclusion Alberta and some parents are among advocates for students with disabilities who say the rooms should be eliminated. Parent Rosemarie Jordan says she found out years after the fact that her son, who has multiple disabilities, was put into seclusion rooms, and school staff never informed her. The experience caused him trauma, distress, and affected his willingness to attend school, she said. "He just understood that this is something that adults shouldn't be doing to me," she said in an interview last week. She said her son, who is now in Grade 10, consistently asks to speak school division managers because he wants to tell them to stop the practice. Research suggests that when a school employee feels it necessary to put a student inside one of the rooms, the experience can also distress staff members and other students who witness the event, Bowman said. Use of the rooms became the focus of attention in 2018, when a Strathcona County family launched a lawsuit in response to their autistic child's troubling experience in a seclusion room. The then-NDP government promised to ban school seclusion rooms. After the United Conservative Party won the 2019 election, the government reversed that decision and instead introduced standards for the use of seclusion and restraint. Since then, Edmonton Public Schools has had a stated goal of phasing out the rooms. The division runs many programs for growing numbers of students diagnosed with autism, developmental disabilities or behavioural disorders. As it adapted more school spaces to accommodate these programs, it also built rooms that could be used for seclusion. Data obtained through freedom of information requests showed last year that Edmonton Public Schools had almost two-thirds of the total number of seclusion rooms reported to the provincial government. In the 2024-25 school year, staff in the division put 640 students into the rooms against their will 1,581 times, according to data from the division. Critics said that seemed to be an excessive number of emergency situations and questioned whether every incident warranted the use of seclusion. The numbers do not include incidents where trained staff physically restrain a student who poses a risk of harm. Board chair says goal remains zero rooms Four parents and an Inclusion Alberta representative addressed the school board last week, applauding the decommissioning of rooms and reduction in their use. Parent Sarah Doll called the trend "a ray of light in an otherwise dark year for families of disabled students." Division superintendent Darrel Robertson told the board meeting he is requiring certain staff to take mandatory training in non-violent crisis intervention techniques. A few schools are also piloting a different de-escalation program, which has been "highly impactful." Robertson said the division is working to scale up that training to more schools. "I don't want seclusion rooms in our division at all," he said. "We're working hard to continue to get better." However, the school division and board trustees are making changes to public reporting and meeting procedures that have sullied some advocates' satisfaction with the seclusion room reductions. After five years of producing a standalone report on seclusion room use for the school board, the division will now include the information in a broader annual performance document called the Annual Education Results Report. Trustees, who are elected officials, also decided earlier this month to change the rules about who may address the board at a public meeting. The board will no longer include public comments on its livestream of meetings. Speakers can only address issues on the board's agenda for that meeting date, and it is limiting the number of speakers on each topic to five per meeting. Bowman said the school division's public reporting on seclusion rooms had been instrumental in the push to reduce their numbers. "It's actually deeply troubling that they've taken a step away from this kind of public transparency and accountability," she said. School division spokesperson Kim Smith said trustees changed the meeting rules to align with other school boards, and make better use of meeting time. She said there are other ways the public can contact their trustees. School board chair Julie Kusiek told reporters she thinks the change will strengthen accountability, because the report requires the division to set a goal and outline a plan for achieving that target. "And we have our target for this, which is, we're moving towards zero seclusion rooms," Kusiek said. The division has yet to set a timeline to meet that goal.
Hamilton Spectator
29-05-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Grande Prairie disability advocates frustrated with province
Inclusion Grande Prairie held a town hall on Saturday to hear concerns regarding changes to the province's funding for people with disabilities. The two chairs reserved for local MLAs remained empty. 'It's so important to have a loud voice when speaking with this government because they have a tendency to ignore most of us,' said Keith Moore, Inclusion Grande Prairie president. Underfunding for disability programs, access to funds, upcoming AISH changes with the new Alberta Disability Assistance Program, and the province 'clawing back' the federal Canada Disability Benefit from individuals were among issues raised at the public event. The province is introducing the Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) expected to begin in July next year, but locals say there is not enough information for those who will be able to use it. 'We don't know what that new support level would be because there's just no information, and we have asked repeatedly,' said Moore. 'The trends with this government seem to be, let's just cut and cut and cut, people who are more vulnerable in our society are the ones that are targeted.' The province says ADAP will allow people with disabilities to pursue jobs while receiving the financial, medical, and personal support they need. It says ADAP will work alongside the current Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH) program. 'ADAP is going to be a lower monthly support but allow people to earn more income without it being deducted off their support,' said Moore. Currently, those on AISH have deductions from their monthly living allowance if they have income. Moore said currently AISH clients receive about $1,900 per month for food, rent and utilities. He noted the poverty line is about $2,400 a month in Edmonton. The Canada Disability Benefit (CBD) which could provide up to $200 a month was expected to help those with disabilities have more access to funds, but in Alberta CBD may add more barriers. Inclusion Alberta said in a media release that the province is requiring people on AISH to apply for the CBD but will then reduce their AISH payment by the received CBD amount. It says no other province is doing this. 'The CDB is meant to be a top-up, not a replacement for provincial disability income support,' said Trish Bowman, Inclusion Alberta CEO. 'Taking away a benefit that was intended to help reduce poverty for adults with disabilities is beyond comprehension.' About 77,000 Albertans are accessing AISH. The CBD has a $250 application fee, and approved clients need to qualify for the Disability Tax Credit that requires a medical assessment that may also come with a cost. 'It doesn't make sense,' shouted a person from the crowd at the town hall. Family Support for Children with Disabilities (FSCD) and Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) funding is also underfunded, says Moore. He cited the latest publicly available annual report from the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities (2022-23). 'The budget for 2025 did add some money in, but it didn't even keep up with inflation or the population growth,' he said. 'Every year, we're falling further and further behind, and that is basically what the advocates report for 2022 says — insufficient funds.' People at the town hall voiced their frustrations with a system some called 'dehumanizing.' Moore says he sent invites to Grande Prairie MLA Nolan Dyck and Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA Ron Wiebe. 'We're going to present everything that was brought forward by families,' said Moore, 'we're going to get folks to write out their stories and everything and will go to the MLAs and again, requesting them specifically to respond to us.' 'We expect them to do their job as allies represent us; they were not elected to represent Premier Smith or the caucus,' said Moore. Moore says contact with the local MLAs has been difficult. 'They're not very accommodating for people who want to meet with them,' he said, noting the MLA offices indicated that they limit meetings to a maximum of 30 minutes, won't meet after 7 p.m. and won't meet with more than six people at a time. Giving each person five minutes isn't long enough to illustrate how funding is affecting a person, he said. Moore, who served on the board of the Inclusion Alberta until last month, said there was no consultation done regarding AISH or the upcoming changes with ADAP. He said he wanted to see Inclusion Alberta included in the changes to legislation, noting the organization represents families across Alberta and that Inclusion Grande Prairie represents many people in northwestern Alberta from Edson to LaCrete. He said it's not uncommon for the province to include stakeholders before making changes to legislation noting oil and gas companies were included in legislative changes to abandoned wellsites. In March, the Family Resource Centre in Grande Prairie was closed after provincial funding cuts. 'When we lost the Family Resource Centre, one of the responses from the province was, we do not fund advocacy we fund supports,' said Moore. 'We helped over 200 families, during the time it was operational, find a way around the community, connect them with supporting organizations within the community, help guide them through inclusive education.' He said that parents don't know how to navigate the system. The centre helped them navigate funding, ensuring their children received proper education and aid and parents got the education they needed. 'The interesting thing is that the (Persons with Developmental Disabilities) PDD office in Grande Prairie often referred people to us,' he said, 'that's basically because the PDD office is understaffed; they're maybe 50 per cent of what they were five years ago, in numbers.' Funding to the Family Resource Centre was cut from about $120,000 a year to $64,000, said Moore. He said the province has also stipulated the centre would need to provide courses that follow 'provincial scripts' every month, that would include provincial audits for compliance. Moore said after some conversations, the province indicated it is still funding the Office of the Advocate for Persons with Disabilities. The website stated that the office would visit communities and talk to organizations. 'I invited them to come out to Grande Prairie to talk with (Inclusion Grande Prairie), also the Autism Society - because they're in the same boat we are - and two weeks later, I got a phone call and the lady said they were unable to come out because they didn't know what their budget was and couldn't travel.' Moore then asked if they could accommodate a Zoom meeting and was told it would need to be before 7 p.m. Town & Country News reached out to the Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services but did not receive a response before press time.
CBC
02-04-2025
- General
- CBC
The Autism Centre of Excellence school is moving to the planning phase. But not all parents are happy
Edmonton Public Schools is planning a dedicated school for students with autism they say will offer an enhanced learning environment and increase capacity, but which some parents and advocates warn is a setback for education. The Autism Centre of Excellence school received planning funding from the province last December and was approved in the 2026-29 Capital Plan at Tuesday's school board meeting. The idea is to convert an existing school site into a space dedicated to providing support for the division's growing number of autistic students. It would include learning environments tailored to autistic students, increased capacity for support, enhanced programming and training, and a student transition hub, a report tabled Tuesday says. But parents of kids with disabilities like Nicole Renaud and Rajesh Kumar are worried it creates a segregated system. "Disabled students are just beginning to recover from a nine-week targeted exclusion from EPSB schools," Renaud said at the meeting, referring to students who were asked to stay home during the recent support worker strike. "And now EPSB is looking for ways to segregate disabled students further as a priority in their planning." About 40 per cent of autistic students enrol in specialized interactions programming, a style of education designed to improve communication, social interaction and behaviour while developing academic skills. The other 60 per cent chose to be integrated into a regular classroom. But Kumar said parents are increasingly being pushed away from the integrated model and told they will get better support in the interactions program. Kumar is worried the new school will further incentivize underresourcing at neighbourhood schools. "I know many parents like me are not being heard. We are looking to see the division deliver the support teachers need to provide an inclusive education," Kumar said. Kumar and advocates from Inclusion Alberta said integrated classrooms provide the best outcomes for disabled students. "Segregated schools for students with disabilities are neither new nor innovative," Inclusion Alberta director Philip Ney told the meeting. "Such schools were created because students with disabilities were long denied their right to a public education." Superintendent Darrel Robertson said their model has shown success, but acknowledged the division doesn't have all the answers. "We don't have everything figured out in terms of supporting all of our children to be successful," Robertson said. "And I'm not sure there is a school division in the world that does." Over the past six years, 75 per cent of all new classes established by EPSB have been dedicated to the interactions program, the report says. The new school would allow the division to address that growth, and also provides parent choice, Robertson said. "Planning funding for an Autism Centre of Excellence gives us an opportunity to dream a little bit about what could be," Robertson said. "It's not meant to provide a segregation model in the school division for children on the spectrum." He said the only person who can direct a student placement is the superintendent — and that direction is only given in exceptional circumstances. Robertson said there are more than 3,000 autistic students in the school division. There are about 120,000 students in the total school population. "We're willing to roll up our sleeves and we want to support and love and care for our kids in the best way possible," Robertson said. Saadiq Sumar, the trustee for Ward G, voted against the motion because of concerns raised by parents and advocates. "Given the comments from some of the speakers I have doubts," Sumar said. He noted the plan had to be submitted to the province that day, and already had funding allocated to it, leaving little room for amendments.
Yahoo
04-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alberta introduces plan to allow people with disabilities to work and receive benefits
The Alberta government announced a new support program for people with disabilities that starts next year, but without releasing how much benefits will be. The new Alberta Disability Assistance Program (ADAP) will start July 2026. It will co-exist with the current Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), which will still be available for people who cannot work due to a disability. "For those with a disability who can work, the supports offered through AISH fall short," said Jason Nixon, Minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services, on Tuesday. "Those individuals will be much better served through a program that offers robust employment supports, generous earning exemptions, and ultimately a path toward greater independence." The government hasn't released the financial details of the new plan nor the criteria that will be used to evaluate clients. Nixon said the government needs to do more consultation before releasing those additional details. About 77,000 Albertans receive AISH each month. The government said about 10,000 recipients have some form of employment but believe more would work if their benefits weren't clawed back. A single person on AISH receives $1,901 each month. Nixon said there will be a single application process for benefits. The government will decide what program to put an applicant in depending on their disability. If an applicant becomes eligible for ADAP, they can reapply for AISH if their condition changes in a way to impede their ability to work. No transparency People currently on AISH will be evaluated to determine if they qualify for ADAP. Those recipients still keep the health benefits they were eligible for under AISH, even when they make enough money through employment to no longer need monthly payments Nixon said the province will increase supports for ADAP recipients to help them secure employment and get employers to offer more opportunities to people with disabilities. Marie Renaud, the NDP opposition critic for community and social services, said the government is creating a second program to move more people off AISH using criteria that hasn't been disclosed to the public. "What they've done is given themselves the ability to go through this list and say "you go there, you go there, you go there, you go there," when we know this process is not transparent," she said. "People are waiting for months to even get a appeal process is not even accessible." Renaud said Alberta doesn't have legislation to ensure workplaces are accessible. She said people with disabilities have higher rates of unemployment and the government doesn't appear to have made the investments to change that. Trish Bowman, the CEO of Inclusion Alberta, said the lack of details accompanying Tuesday's announcement could alarm people who rely on AISH. She said they have to be involved in consultations about the changes to avoid any of what she calls "unintended consequences." "There will absolutely be apprehension from people as this goes forward that they may be moved off of AISH to a program that provides potentially a lower level of support," she said.
