HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2007-10-25, Page 34A co-operative project betweenthe Huron-Perth Catholic DistrictSchool Board and the Huron-PerthChildren’s Aid Society (CAS)
provides some unique advantages to
the social workers who work under
the project’s umbrella.
And they’re hopeful support for
the program remains.
Phil Shantz, one of two school-
based social workers employed by
the partnership, described his work
to school board trustees at a regular
meeting Monday, Oct. 22.
He noted his work is
predominantly in Stratford – at St.
Michael secondary school and St.Ambrose elementary school – whileAllyson Austin works mainly inthree Huron County schools fromher base at St. Anne’s secondaryschool in Clinton.He said a form of the school-based
social worker program has been
around in this district since 1993,
thanks mainly to the initiative of
present Huron-Perth CAS executive
director Tom Knight. This particular
version of the program, however,
began as a pilot project in 2004.
Shantz splits time between the
schools and the Stratford CAS
office, but deals exclusively with
students. He described his role as
one of consulting – with staff and
administrators of the troubledstudent’s school, possibly withfamilies, and with social serviceproviders in the community. In thisway, he believes the school-basedsocial workers can best providereferrals for the student to receive
the attention they need.
“It has been a nice fit for Allyson
and I, because we’re both very
passionate about kids,” Shantz said.
The link with the CAS allows
Shantz and Austin to leave the
educational environment, to which
they would be restricted if they were
solely school board employees. This
can take them into the homes and
communities of the children, where
they might learn more about the
roots of problems.“I really get a lot of pleasure outof working with a family for a fewyears and seeing growth,” he said.Working from the school,meanwhile, allows them to retaincontact with students after they
reach 16 – the age at which
Children’s Aid Societies are
required by law to cease contact.
“Teenagers are great to work with
because they’re searching,” Shantz
said, to which trustee Bernard
Murray commented, “it really seems
like you’re in the right profession.”
In an interview after his
presentation, however, Shantz
admitted he takes great care not to
become too involved in the
challenges faced by some students.“As society gets more and morecomplex and families get more andmore complex, we have kids comingto school with some pretty seriousissues,” he said. He has been in the profession for
about two decades, he explained,
and he learned early on that
successful social workers must learn
to separate their work from their
home life, or else they risk rapid
burn-out.
Although the full services of
Shantz and Austin are restricted to a
few schools, they are available to
other parts of the board on an
emergency basis. In short term
cases, this may happen when a
tragedy occurs within a school
community. In longer term cases,
they may be called to a school if a
group of parents has expressed
concern about the actions of a staff
member, or if a student has
displayed a trend toward violent
behaviour.
“I think we’ve had a positive
couple of years with this program
and we’ve learned a lot,” said
education director Larry Langan as
he introduced Shantz’s presentation.
Repercussions of the passage last
June of Safe Schools legislation
continue to be felt by Ontario school
boards.
At a regular meeting of the Huron-
Perth Catholic District School Board
on Monday, Oct. 22, trustees learned
this means alterations will be
necessary to school codes of
conduct, expulsions and suspensions
policy, and the provision of
alternative programming for
students who are suspended or
expelled.
According to education
superintendent Dan Parr, the
Education Ministry has given boards
until February, 2008 to come into
compliance with Bill 212.
But what it actually means to be in
compliance has only gradually
become clear.
Even while the legislation made
its way toward final assent last
spring, the need for changes in
suspension and expulsion policy was
evident. That’s because early reports
about the bill stated principals would
be directed to consider mitigating
circumstances when faced with a
situation of potential suspension or
expulsion.
Administrators were advised to
react on a case-by-case basis instead
of using hard-and-fast rules about
discipline.
Then it was learned that teachers
will not have the authority to
suspend, and school administrators
will only be allowed to make
recommendations to the board about
expulsion. Trustees will make the
final decision.
In the summer, the Ministry stated
all boards must make available
alternative programming for those
students who are suspended or
expelled.
All these factors necessitate
changes to the Huron-Perth board’s
suspension/expulsion policy, noted
Parr.
He added there will also need to
be slight changes to the board’s code
of conduct, to bring it into
compliance with the specifics of Bill
212.
And most recently, the Ministry
informed boards that they must
adopt the principle of “progressive
discipline.” This forces boards to
show that, before resorting to
suspension or expulsion,
administrators have attempted other
types of measures to deal with
troublesome students.
“Boards will be required to
demonstrate that suspension and
expulsion are not turned to lightly,”
Parr explained, adding a board
policy will have to be developed to
guide such a process.
PAGE 34. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2007.
Slight changes for HPCDSB code of conduct
Social workers hoping for continued support
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By Stew SlaterSpecial to The Citizen
By Stew Slater
Special to The Citizen
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