The Kids Aren’t Alright
Trying, once again, to be heard by the powers that be during inclusive education month
Another Open Letter To Our Minister of Education
Last year I wrote an open letter to our Minister of Education, after trying in vain to get his attention through various means. I finally received a response, which unfortunately was nothing but a form letter echoing the government’s talking points.
I have been low-key “harassing”* the minister by sending a tweet a day, every day for the month of February, in an attempt to draw attention to the fact that our government does nothing meaningful toward improving inclusion in Manitoba’s public schools.
So far yelling at politicians on the Internet has proven ineffective, writing articles and open letters has yielded little, so we are upping the ante.
We are going to connect as concerned parents and caregivers within our school’s division and increase the pressure on our provincial government to get off its ass and do something for our kids.
Below is my letter, which I will upload onto a shared drive for any caregivers to access. Parents and concerned citizens are encouraged to copy and paste the letter, edit the contents to better reflect theirs and their children’s experiences, and send it to our Minister of Education.
*Please note, my flippant comment about harassment is hyperbole, I am not actually harassing anyone, I am contacting my political representative once daily, asking him to do his job.
Even if you’re not a Manitoban, unfortunately I think there are enough similar issues across continents that many parents will relate, especially parents of neurodivergent and disabled children.
Attn: Wayne Ewasko, Minister of Education 168 Legislative Building 450 Broadway Winnipeg MB R3C 0V8 [email protected]
February 14, 2023
Dear Minister Ewasko,
February is National Inclusive Education Month. The month is half over, yet we have seen no meaningful action or commitments from your government to improve inclusive education for neurodivergent and disabled students in Manitoba.
Caregivers in Manitoba are extremely concerned about continued reductions in funding and support for our children. While the government boasts of “astronomical” funding increases, in reality, parents are being told there are not enough resources to provide our children with what they need to thrive in Manitoba’s public schools.
Many parents are being told their children do not qualify for supports. They are being denied formal assessment by divisional school psychologists due to extremely long waitlists, a backlog which was further exacerbated by the pandemic shutdowns.
Families of students whose needs are urgent and pressing are being advised to pay out of pocket for very expensive private assessments and services because schools are unable to provide either in a timely manner.
Our children are going to school not knowing who will be supporting them from one day to the next, often being shuffled around from one EA to another due to staff shortages and attrition. Many of our EAs are not qualified or trained to properly support our children, leaving both students and staff in vulnerable and unsafe positions.
Teachers and school staff are not equipped to understand or teach students with learning and developmental disabilities, nor are they properly trained to support students with challenging behaviours. Parents are constantly being called to pick their children up from school because staff are unable to provide adequate support, which leads students to act out due to stress and unmet needs.
Parents are told their children are “defiant”, “oppositional”, “difficult”, “uncooperative”, even “belligerent” and “violent” because teachers and school staff do not understand the difference between misbehaviour and stress behaviour.
Our education staff are not at all trauma informed, are not well-equipped to teach neurodivergent students, and are not properly supported by their administrators to attend the necessary and relevant continuing education opportunities.
The struggle is real — and exhausting
Caregivers are exhausted and burnt out from fighting with schools just to have their children’s needs met. Many have pulled their children from school, either temporarily or permanently, some opting to homeschool in order to protect their children’s mental health and psychological wellbeing.
Others continue to push, attending countless meetings and writing countless emails, but school administrators can only do so much when our government refuses to adequately fund public education and meaningfully support inclusion.
Manitoba Education’s own philosophy of inclusion states,
“Inclusion is a way of thinking and acting that allows every individual to feel accepted, valued and safe. An inclusive community consciously evolves to meet the changing needs of its members. Through recognition and support, an inclusive community provides meaningful involvement and equal access to the benefits of citizenship.”
Minister Ewasko, our children do not feel accepted, valued, and safe. Our children feel marginalized, excluded, and unwanted. Our children, and the families who advocate for them, are made to feel as though we are inconvenient because we are creating more work for school staff who are already overworked, exhausted, and burnt out themselves.
An inclusive community consciously evolves to meet the changing needs of its members.
Our school communities have not evolved in the slightest. Our inclusion policy is more than twelve years old, and is based on an extremely out-dated program.
Through recognition and support, an inclusive community provides meaningful involvement and equal access to the benefits of citizenship.
We do not feel recognized or supported, we feel ignored. I have reached out countless times and have received only a form letter in response. I was later granted a meeting with a wonderful staff person who had no authority to effect policy change in your office, leaving me to feel as though I was being pacified rather than listened to.
There is neither meaningful involvement nor equal access when the basic accommodations our children need are not available, and when they are, staff are not trained in how to properly use and implement them.
We need meaningful change — like, yesterday
School staff and families need our government to act beyond political talking points and empty proclamations. We desperately need meaningful change, action, and policy that will offer our students the resources needed to thrive in Manitoba’s public schools.
Minister Ewasko, I will be presumptuous here and assume you left teaching and entered into politics in order to change a system you saw was broken.
You have first-hand experience and knowledge of how under-resourced and under-funded Manitoba public schools are, and families are reaching out to help you understand that the circumstances are exponentially worse for neurodivergent and disabled students.
Please take our concerns seriously and please tell us how your government will take concrete action to improve the conditions for all, but especially for our most vulnerable students, in Manitoba schools.
They are counting on you.
Thank you,
Jillian Enright, CYW, BA Psych. Neurodiversity Manitoba Inclusion specialist and child advocate
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