WATCH ABOVE: The parents of a 12-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome are upset after being told the youth worker he relies on is being reallocated by the TCDSB. Mark McAllister reports.
TORONTO – The parents of a 12-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome are upset after being told the Child and Youth Worker he relies on won’t be at his school in September.
“I feel in a way betrayed that a decision was taken at the end of the school year,” Antonio Herrero’s mother Christina said.
“I feel betrayed because it was made with no consultation.”
Antonio has spent most of his childhood having difficulty finding friends and socializing despite doing well in class at Blessed Pope Paul VI Catholic School.
It wasn’t until he started getting regular help from his CYW that he started to open up and share his thoughts and feelings about time at school with family.
“I didn’t have too many friends at school,” he said.
“So being with her, she sort of helped me to get over that shyness.”
The Toronto Catholic District School Board said it reallocates teachers and support staff at the end of each school year in advance of the next.
There are 177 CYWs for 201 Catholic schools in Toronto and each are allocated based on assessments done by the board.
“We look at the school profile,” spokesperson John Yan said.
“We look at the students that make up that particular school in terms of whether they have special needs.”
Christina Herrero feels her son needs the assistance for at least one more year, while making the transition to high school, but suggests no one at the school asked her.
“The youth worker at the school was the one person who helped him through the anxiety attacks,” she said.
At this point, Global News has been told the CYW in this case is in the process of trying to figure out which school she may be reallocated to.
“I think I’d be a bit lost without her,” Antonio said.
“We’ve always has that connection and so I don’t know what would happen if she wasn’t there.”
During its recent budget process, the TCDSB made more than $30 million in cuts including principals, vice-principals, education assistants and guidance counsellors.
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