I am a Support Teacher

Started my own version of “This is my strike pay,” for my blog because I don’t Twat on Twitter, then I realized that I really need to clarify what it is I actually do as an educational professional in this province and how the lockout, in particular, has impacted the lives of the kids I work with.

I am a support teacher, case manager, mentor teacher, what ever you want to call it.  How ever you wanna label it, I support coded kids (mostly with behaviour codings in category “R,” “H,” or “D” – mostly boys) with a history of extremely challenging behaviours in and out of school.

My kids are the ones you always see in the office, on top of the school, scrolling graffiti on the buildings. 

My kids are the ones in fights, in detention, in the counselling office. 

My kids are on meds, on drugs, on video doing something less than legal. 

My kids are in Youth Diversion, on Youth Agreements, working with Youth Care workers. 

My kids are constantly on the “Potential Failures” list, the “No Fly” list, the School Based Team list.

My kids are fosters, adopted, abandoned.

My kids are the last ones in class and the first to leave.

My kids are the ones every teacher tries to ignore when the kid is present but is the first one noticed when the kid is absent.

My kids walk the longest road with the shortest tempers.

My kids are bullet proof and vulnerable, brilliant, beautiful, passionate, ferociously loyal and protective.

My kids are over-looked and under rated.

My kids are in care and out of patience for all of the time they spend on two or three year waiting lists to see psychologists, psychiatrists, paediatricians, dentists, doctors….the list is endless.

To be bluntly honest, I have found a handful of people in my profession, or others, who have the strength of character, patience, or stomach for punishment required to work with My kids. 

To be bluntly honest, some days I can barely manage.

The job of a support teacher is brutal on two prongs:  (1) the weight of the paper work has the potential to bury you and (2) the weight of the stories of the kids has the potential to psychologically cripple you.

(1)  The paper work and the job requirements:

Support teachers/case managers liaise between professionals in and out of the school buildings, meet with all manner of doctors, social workers, law enforcement, and other community members.  We do so to make plans for kids to be used in and out of the school building so that the kid has the greatest chance at success.

We try to meet with classroom teachers and help them understand and support the learning, psychological, and life needs of each kid on our case load – and even kids who are not “coded” …the kids who just need someone to watch out for them.

We are advocates, mediators, warriors for kids who have no one.

This is a list of our monthly duties as provided to us by Student Support Services.  We support teachers made the list to help the brave people who venture into this line of work without a clue as to what their responsibilities will be.

Please feel free to just skim through the infinite list of jobs.  

As you flip through this list, please also keep in mind that many of us ALSO TEACH CURRICULUM IN ADAPTED “SATELLITE CLASSES” OR OFF THE “SIDES” OF OUR DESKS…SOMETIMES BETWEEN 5-10 COURSES PER PERIOD:

Key of abbreviations:

IEP:  Individual Education Plan:  maps out for support and classroom teachers the specific learning needs of the student and suggested strategies/adaptations/modifications (academic/social-emotional/physical/behavioural) which will help the student be successful in the course/class

CT:  Classroom Teacher

ST:  Support Teacher

ICM:  Integrated Case Management Meeting – meetings for kids in care or with outside agency involvement:  mental health care providers, law enforcement, MCFD personnel, etc.

G4:  Confidential “red” file for storing documentation of students with ministry designations.

SECONDARY SUPPORT PLANNING TIMELINE

SEPTEMBER

 Work with administration to assign targeted SEA support to students

receiving Personal Development hours

 As soon as possible get timetables finalized for students on your caseload

 Share “profile” information with classroom teachers

 Develop marking criteria, in consultation with classroom teacher, for those students enrolled in modified courses

 Review currently identified students with school psychologist and make any necessary coding changes

 Complete file review for new students and identify needs

 Discuss with school psychologist any new students who may require district/ministry

identification

 Review existing Ministry 1701 caseload and documentation for your school – Report all additions and deletions to k two weeks before the end of September in order to meet Ministry of Education deadlines

 Initiate School Based Team (SBT) meetings

 Invite psychologist to regularly attend SBT meetings to discuss student needs

 Start collaborative planning for IEPs and ICMs

 Identify students who require safety plans, review existing plans and update if necessary

 Schedule IEP input meetings and collaboratively write IEPs; provide parents and student with a copy

 Set BC Screening Deadline is this month-C. will email deadline date

for submissions

 New/Nearly New Teacher Mentoring meeting

 Investigate and register for professional development/conferences

 Ongoing:

 New students to school; read file

 SBT:

 Review student progress, attendance, etc.

 New referrals for consideration

 Following pre-referral discussions, prioritize students for district assessments (Psych Ed, SLP, OT, PT) and SET BC

 Psychologist meetings:

 Pre-referral discussions

 Changes in coding discussions

 Initiate meetings with teachers/SEAs re. data collection (Low Incidence) and IEP goals

 Send IEP Cover Sheet to SSS on IEP anniversary date

OCTOBER

 Continue collaborative planning and IEP meetings

 Establish regular meetings with SEAs to collaborate about student(s) needs

 Complete ‘Adjudication List’, (available from school psychologist), for students on your caseload in grades 9–12 requiring exam adaptations

 Provincial Pro-D Day

 Ongoing: (See September)

NOVEMBER

 Report Cards sent home

 Participate in parent/teacher interviews, progress reports on IEPs

 Set BC Screening Deadline is this month-C. will email deadline date

for submissions

 Ongoing: (See September)

DECEMBER

 Second Screening for SET BC

 Meet with school psychologist to discuss ‘Adjudication List’ and fill out ‘Request for

Exam Adjudication’ form with school psychologist. At this meeting, any updated

assessment needs will be determined. Please bring the following to the meeting:

 Student files (G4 and red confidential file)

 Current IEP

 Completed Adjudication List

 Ongoing: (See September)

JANUARY

 Review existing Ministry 1701 identified student list with administration –

Report all additions and deletions to k. in order to meet Ministry of Education deadlines

 Follow through on school psychologist recommendations as recorded on the

‘Request for Exam Adjudication’ form

 Ongoing: (See September)

FEBRUARY

 Follow through on school psychologist recommendations as recorded on the ‘Request for Exam Adjudication’ form

 Schools complete ‘Students Receiving Adaptation for Grades 10/11 and 12 Exams’ form (available from your school psychologist). Fax completed form to … before reporting deadlines: For June exams, the reporting deadlines can be found in the Graduation Handbook or ask your school psychologist

 Submit snapshot of students returning for an additional year

 Ongoing: (See September)

MARCH

 Adjudication reporting deadline for June provincial exams (the reporting deadlines can

be found in the Graduation Handbook or ask your school psychologist)

 Begin planning for elementary school transitions (visits, course planning forms);

check Risk Assessments/Safety Plans

 Report Cards/Conferences/review & revise IEP goals (if needed)

 Set BC Screening Deadline is this month-C. will email deadline date

for submissions

 End of month: Check that you have received the list of incoming grade 7 students

from DEO

 Ongoing: (See September)

APRIL

 End of first week: Transition forms will arrive from elementary feeder schools

 Personal Development forms due (contact SSS for due date)

 Continue transition/placement meetings. Use this opportunity to connect with the

CT, ST and/or SEA working with any incoming grade 7 students identified with special needs

 Begin department planning for returning and new students (caseloads, support block

assignments, etc.)

 Begin adjudication process for grade 8 students (confer with school psychologist)

 Ongoing: (See September)

MAY

 Assist students/families with course selection and form completion.

 Begin setting up adjudication schedule for provincial and final exams.

 Last opportunity for district referrals

 Finish placement/transition planning meetings for new students.

 End of Month: Begin conferencing with teachers/SEAs re. IEP reports

 Ongoing: (See September)

JUNE

 Work with Administration to adjust and finalize timetables of identified students, for next school year

 IEP reviews/meetings/input/planning for next year

 Finalize adjudication schedule for final exams and provincial exams

 Report Cards

 Filing updates with current information, IEP Reports, ICM Reports, etc.

 Develop “profile” information to share with classroom teachers

 Prioritize students for LA support (returning and new students)

 Review files/assessment information for new students; identify needs

 Review existing Ministry 1701 caseload and documentation for your school –

Report all additions and deletions to k. and update all information in Red file

 **************************************************************

Have you tapped out yet?

And….this is just the list for case managers.  I am the head of the SPED/Support department, I have another 50 jobs added on to the list you just flipped through.

Tapped out *yet*?

Just a little FYI:  when I was locked out of School Based Team meetings and Integrated Case Management meetings, when those meetings were cancelled, the kids most profoundly impacted were not the kids on the academic stars list (sometimes but not usually).  The kids most impacted were My kids…the kids who have been most neglected and ignored by this government in the first place.  Trying to wrap up the year has been a nightmare.  The kids who are suffering the most because of this lockout are the kids who always suffer the most.  Nice work Christy Clark and company!

(2) The stories/lives of My kids:

This part of the job is bitter sweet and will take WAY too much time to detail here.  In fact, I tried to share that in the first incarnation of this blog but was asked to remove the content.

The emotional/psychological weight of this job will get its own post.  The stories to which I witness deserve to be separated from the bureaucratic minutia of the list above.

The above list is soul crushing; my relationships with my kids are uplifting.

So this is a shout out to my fellow support teachers/case managers who have been punished the most by this job action.  We will survive.  If we can survive ministry audits – this is a cake walk.

Stay strong.

And if you know a case manager – buy them a coffee…or…whatever.  These days they really need it.