HRCE educational support staff union concerned by cuts, shuffling of EPA members

Each September, educational program assistants (EPAs) are shuffled to other schools across the Halifax Regional Centre for Education to meet the needs of the students they support, but this year, some EPAs hired in September are being told there’s no work.

Over the past two weeks, several jobs have been reallocated and EPAs have been laid off due to low enrolment numbers, which the union says can be tied directly to the COVID-19 pandemic and poor communication surrounding the return-to-school plan by Nova Scotia’s Department of Education.

The department declined a request for an interview, and directed Global News to HRCE.

“In the past couple of days we have found that we have had term reductions down to zero and some of our permanent members have had their percentages decreased, even some of those receiving a full layoff letter,” said HRCE education support staff union president Chris Melanson, who represents more than 850 EPA workers.

EPAs are not assigned to a specific student that requires educational support, Melanson says, but instead work with a range of students throughout the day. Melanson says when cuts or reallocations are made, it puts stress on the support team at the school.

“Some of these students are affected dramatically by it because this is a face they have been accustomed to seeing during a difficult time, that will no longer be there with them for the rest of the school year,” he said. “Which is something the Department of Education needs to look at.”

Melanson says when it comes to staffing and a return-to-school plan, there needs to be clearer communication with all parties involved, including families, support staff and administrators, especially during a global pandemic.

“From what we are hearing, we don’t think the government reached out to those parents and those families to educate them on what the processes are,” said Melanson. “And let them know that we are going to try to staff at levels that best support your children.”

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Consequently, he says the lack of clear communication on a return-to-school plan amid COVID-19 has played a part in families opting to keep their children home.

“Within our roles, we don’t speak directly with parents but we have heard in the community and we have learned in schools that certain families are keeping their children home because of the pandemic,” said Melanson, who couldn’t provide numbers around how many students are being kept home.

The union’s concern is that what will happen if those students decide to return.

“Those staff members have now moved on to an additional site, and (HRCE) will have to come in and post additional sub-positions until they can post a term-position,” said Melanson.

HRCE communications co-ordinator Doug Hadley says where reallocations are being made, the student services team has been working to confirm with families which students will be staying home and acknowledged students can enter the school system at any time.

“This year we did hear from some families who said, ‘We are going to adopt a wait-and-see approach,’ and so in those situations, we haven’t made any adjustments to student service allocations,” said Hadley. “We’ve only been making adjustments when we know for certain a student is not coming back to school.”

Cynthia Carroll, the executive director at Autism Nova Scotia and chair of the special education programs and services (SEPS) committee with the Department of Education and says concerned parents have been reaching out about the reallocation of EPAs.

Carroll says she tabled a motion to examine the EPA revisions and questions whether reducing support levels should during COVID-19 is the best approach when trying to offer an inclusive educational experience.

“The question remains, how are those families who still have students at home, how are they being supported as well?” asked Carroll. “Can TAs (teaching assistants) and EPA still play a role, even though students aren’t physically in the building of our schools right now?”

As part of the collective bargaining agreement, the HRCE says all EPAs being reallocated are offered jobs but it could result in a layoff notice if the employee doesn’t accept the transfer offer.

At this time, the HRCE says it’s currently looking to increase its EPA workforce and has 16 job postings that have just closed.