Families, special needs students feeling the strain in Edmonton school strike

Diana Halabi, right, says her non-verbal 12-year-old daughter Zahea, left, as shown in this handout image, cannot attend school due to a strike by educational support staff in Edmonton. (Credit: Diana Halabi)

EDMONTON — Educational assistants work with Diana Halabi’s daughter, Zahea, from the minute they take her off the school bus until she gets back on it.

The workers help take off her shoes and jacket, guide her to her seat and help her complete her schoolwork. The non-verbal 12-year-old has help with everything from eating to using the washroom.

But a strike by more than 3,000 educational support workers means Zahea can't attend school in person because there is nobody to support her. Halabi, a single parent, is working from home to make sure her child is taken care of, adding to her own work schedule.

Zahea's teacher now sends online links to optional, one-hour meetings to replace instructional time, which has thrown off her routine.

"She doesn't know what's going on," Halabi said. "I try my best to explain, but she doesn't understand. As much as I do, there's nothing I can do at the same time."

Staff from educational assistants to administration workers hit picket lines last week over a wage dispute with the Edmonton Public School Board.

Local president Mandy Lamoureux said the union has heard similar stories of families struggling to cope. It's heartbreaking for members and frustrating for parents, she said.

"It's your constitutional right to have an education and they're being denied that right," Lamoureux said Tuesday. "Using students as pawns is not OK."

Alberta Teachers' Association president Jason Schilling said his group has also heard of students being kept home. School boards and the provincial government shouldn't have let this happen, he said.

"We're the least funded (province) in this country, and a big part of that is funding for inclusion," he said. "If you don't fund inclusion, which is a policy of government that all students are included in the classroom, it's essentially abandonment."

School board spokesperson Carrie Rosa said the division serves about 122,000 students, including roughly 3,700 students with an alternative learning plan. Around 2,500 are on a rotating schedule, while 1,200 are learning at home.

"Students who are learning from home have access to their teachers and are provided learning materials to use at home, so they can continue learning," she said in an email Tuesday.

Tamrah Harasymchuk’s visually impaired daughter learns primarily with braille and her education assistant adapts lessons for the writing system. The nine-year-old's aide advocated for her to attend school during the strike, Harasymchuk said, but has heard of students being kept home.

Harasymchuk said her daughter is keeping up as best as she can with things like verbal tests but is feeling overwhelmed.

"You're telling them to advocate for themselves, but in the same breath, they see the teacher struggling, and my daughter doesn't want to overburden her," she said.

Heather Raymond, who once worked as the division's managing director for inclusive learning, said her grandniece was temporarily sent home due to her disability.

While the girl has since returned, the idea of children like her missing class time because of the strike doesn't sit well. She said the school boards need to develop proper solutions to ensure the needs of all children are met during strikes.

The provincial government also needs to step up and fund school boards, Raymond said.

"We wouldn't say in a school, because we have diminished resources in a building, that 20 per cent of the children in each class stay home one day," said Raymond. "We would never do that, but we do it to kids with disabilities."

Halabi said Zahea needs support and stability and doesn't think it's fair for her to miss class time.

"There should always be a Plan B when things like this happen," she said.

Lamoureux said the union got word Tuesday morning that the school board wants to return to the bargaining table as early as Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2025.

Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press