I work at St Christopher Elementary CS. There are supposed to be 10 EA s on any given day. We have been running at 7-9 since December. We have lost 3 EAs to some sort of medical leave during the school year. All of those EA s have 1.8 full time years with the school board. We are tired and burning out having our schedules changed daily. We are watching kids go without coverage, seeing them lose months from their education. In every classroom we have kids "bundled" together so that 1 EA can work with all of them. Some classes have up to 4 high needs kids in them for 1 EA.
The amount of sickness that has arisen in this school year beats any year I've worked as an EA. (19 yrs including supply). So everyone is always sick.
We have a medically sensitive needs wheel chair bound child in a class with a highly volatile child with autism. The child with autism is getting next to no help causing him to lose a whole year of school. We have two children in one class that both have autism, one is echolelic and the other is highly volatile. The one who is echolelic has now started copying the other one dangerous outbursts. That's not even the half of it.
We have an old closet that is used for a movement room. Room enough for a pressure canoe, mini trampoline a tiny tent and a little tykes basketball net. We have no program support area to take the kids other than the library if it's available. No classroom of our own for resources and such. Our lunch bunch happens in the library along side of the musical rehearsals. This is the hardest year I've ever worked in this job. Mainly because there is no where to go.
However, the EA s we have are not very motivated either. The supplies we get are warm bodies that know nothing of the profession! I have a college certificate in this profession and feel quite insulted that I had to wait 2 years after graduating to be considered to be hired, then another 3 years of supply before becoming full time. Now the profession is treated like garbage.
I love what I do, I hate what is being done to my career.

My children have been attending St. Andre for a few years now and I have to say this is probably the worst year they have had under this new principal (***) she is absolutely horrible. The lack of diversity and representation for black children in this school is crazy. I was told there is one black staff at this school an EA who my kids called *** (I wish I knew her full last name) and she won't be returning this coming September and a big part of me is asking why? From what I heard families and their children adore her including mine. She was so good at connecting with our children and really the only representation they had, they seemed to love her. Sad to see her go. However, I am not surprised because *** seems to have a huge issue with people of colour especially our black students hopefully they get it together.

I’m not even sure how to explain the stuff that goes on here. There is no admin support to the staff, it’s like they don’t exist. They are only worried about how it appears/their image and really don’t give the staff the support they need. There is a definite divide here. The behaviours are out of control and there is never any follow through to deal with it. Kids rule the school. They do what they want when they want without any real fear of consequences. It’s sad I’m told it never used to be this way. The staff all talk about how times have changed and they used to feel so supported before. I understand there has been admin change but this shouldn’t be happening. Staff should feel safe when they go to work. The EAs are great for the most part and I feel support each other as best they can. However I have seen admin not treat them with the respect they deserve and if I’m being honest some have been treated extremely poorly. This school is very large and needs an Admin who knows how to support the team and deal with extreme behaviours. Sadly this team isn’t it.

Not happy since the new principal started last year (***) extremely dismissive, doesn’t listen or care to follow through, and the worst part is with regards to special education she doesn’t do much other than give it to *** who now has taken reins and IEPS are not fully abided by; the Educational Assistanrs are all over the place, don’t know what they are doing , all new faces - kids missing the EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANTS who were exceptional lost a few of them with no knowledge of where they went ….. why? What happened? Horrible.

One of the biggest issues with St. Anne’s is how poorly the staff are treated. There’s a clear lack of appreciation for the teachers and support staff who work tirelessly to keep things running. Morale is visibly low, and it’s no surprise—there’s little to no recognition for hard work, and constructive feedback is rarely given.

It often feels like the administration is more concerned with appearances than actually supporting their educators. Decisions are made without involving or even informing the staff, and when problems arise, the blame is quietly pushed onto them rather than addressed properly.

This lack of respect and value for staff directly affects the students. Teachers who feel unsupported can’t give their best, and you can see it in the classroom atmosphere. High turnover has also become a problem, which only adds to the instability.

St. Anne’s needs to seriously reevaluate how it treats the very people who form the backbone of the school. Until then, I can’t recommend it as a place for either students or staff to thrive.

Our experience has been nothing short of deplorable and dehumanizing. *** is often dismissive, the language used by staff to describe the behaviors of children is unacceptable and the way that black children are OPENLY treated by some of the staff is very concerning. We have reached out to the superintendent and have not received a response so, our next step will be to go to the Board Trustee. I believe this school needs a complete overhaul and the staff, including the principal, need to be educated on how to communicate with (black) parents and children effectively.