Teachers with multi-grade classes ask for more support

By Leah Den Hartogh

BELLEVILLE – Teachers in the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board who have classes with more than two grades in them are asking for help from the board.

There are eight classes in the board’s jurisdiction that have more than two grades in them. Coe Hill School, Hermon Public School east of Bancroft, Maynooth Public School, North Trenton Public School and Queen Victoria School in the east end of Belleville, all offer such classes: junior and senior kindergarten plus Grade 1; Grades 1, 2 and 3; or Grades 4, 5 and 6.

The teachers of these three-grade classrooms are asking for more time to plan their lessons, work with their principals, and connect with other teachers in the board who have combined grades, according to three superintendents who spoke about the problem at the board’s program and human resources committee Monday.

The teachers don’t care if the help comes from primary or junior teachers, or if they are from rural or urban areas – they just want some support from their peers, director of education Mandy Savery-Whiteway told the trustees.

“The reality is that we are in an area that has had declining enrolment over time, and when you have declining enrolment in smaller schools, it sometimes becomes necessary to have combined grades within a school,” said Savery-Whiteway.

There are some opportunities for help with the addition of early-childhood educators or educational assistants to the classroom, she said.

However, the provincial Ministry of Education says there can only be an early-childhood educator if there are at least 15 kindergarten students in the class, she explained.

If there is a student who has special educational needs, an educational assistant would be available, Savery-Whiteway said.

But there is no extra funding for classes that are triple grades, she said.

Lucille Kyle, the board’s chair and the trustee representing north Hastings County, where three of the multi-grade classrooms are located, raised her voice during the meeting as she spoke about how such classes don’t help with student behavioural issues.

Jim Williams, the chair of the committee, said he wouldn’t want to be one of those teachers.

QNet News requested an interview with one of the teachers in a multi-grade classroom, but the board’s communication officer, Kerry Donnell, refused, saying the teachers do not have authorization to speak to the media.

Dave Henderson, president of the Hastings-Prince Edward local of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, did not reply to a request for an interview.