BCEdAccess Society

While we are nearing the end of 2025, we are still not even halfway through the 2025-2026 school year. 

In the upcoming year, it won’t be long until we reach spring, and there will be even more talks on how to cut from the budget, which has already been cut so much. 

For this blog, we wanted to focus on the voices and experiences of our community. Your labour, advocacy and contributions that push for change. 

Here are parent testimonials from our previous 3 community blogs from 2025, along with additional testimonials and wishes for the education system. To read the full previous blogs, click these links: EAs are Essential for Equitable Education, Failure by Design – School Start Up, and Is this Systemic Oppression or Systemic Abuse. To our families, thank you for doing all that you do, every single day. We honor you. We see you.

This is Our Collective Scream. From the Mountain Top.

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“A lack of resources landed my child alone in a locked storage closet (without my knowledge or consent!).” – Anonymous parent

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“My son is in grade 10, the school is enjoying use of the funding, but doing nothing to set him up for success. He has attended 4 hrs this year and the counselor has checked in once and the autism-program-specific-teacher has checked in once. We’ve never had an IEP meeting in 3 years. Backdated IEP-like documents and literally blank progress reports were nefariously uploaded to parent connect after an audit, but the substance of them did not apply to my son and also included an incorrect diagnosis. The very basic common sense best practices for working with neurodivergent people are absent in the autism-specific program in our district. My son has become so anxious and depressed that he’s nearly stopped eating and has lost 10lbs this month – he was slender and had fallen off his growth curve in the first place. The doctors keep asking us “what is the school doing??” —nothing!“– Anonymous parent

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“Our school has not placed children in their permanent class assignments. The first 4 weeks are spent rotating in cohorts, which is chaotic, dysregulating and overwhelming for everyone.

Not enough EA support my child, who requires toileting support, has sat in wet pull-ups all day because no one has reminded him to use the toilet or supported him in changing his pull-up. Again, contrary to his IEP.” – Anonymous parent

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“I am an EA and some classes have as many as 7 IEPs with multiple 1:1. students and only 1 EA” – Staff and anonymous parent

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“My daughter is quiet and non behavioural. She has never received support. She is diagnosed asd and LD. After grade 6 her confidence continued to drop and anxiety got worse. She turned to self harm and school refusal. Currently in grade 11 and 5 years of fighting the system only to continue to hear “we have kids throwing desks and our supports are thin.” I finally gave up and decided to home school.” – Anonymous parent

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“EA support was pulled in January 2025 when EA left the district and has not been replaced. My son requires access scribe support. It’s in his IEP. Teacher is unable to accommodate being regular scribe and there is no EA available for his classroom. This means he cannot complete or participate in classroom work.” – Anonymous parent

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“Transition to high school. I learned at my child’s 15 minute iep meeting this week that none of his teachers are even aware he has a designation, and that it is up to me to tell them.

 My son harmed himself for the first time due to the stress school start up has caused. He also wants to drop out and is in distress daily. So am I. We both feel exhausted and lost. The support block as mentioned above is not working for the same reasons. It is so frustrating. I told the learning suppprt staff this at the IEP meeting and they said we might have to enforce it? But how? No one has followed up since. It’s just so frustrating and exhausting. We seem to slip between the cracks deeper and deeper each year. A psych ed was recommended for last year but I continue to be told he is “low priority” and it’s pretty clear it isn’t gonna happen.” – Anonymous parent 

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“Start school? They won’t be ready for my daughter till October.” – Anonymous Parent

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“September start up was one of the worst we have had so far. My daughter had lost all of her trusted adults at school due to layoffs and was expected to start with all new staff as our district believes that students should be able to work with anyone. This was so stressful and triggered some of the worst anxiety of have ever seen in my child and zero support from out district, we had no other choice but to enrol in online learning . Since our district doesn’t even offer online learning anymore, we had to switch out of our district completely so my child could receive proper adaptations and support supports. Not only has this affected her mental health, but it has taken a toll on our family in general as I have had to leave my job so I can support her with online learning, leaving us with only one income.” – Anonymous parent

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“My 5-year-old son has Type 1 diabetes and has been asked by school not to attend school for more than two hours a day because there’s no one trained or available to safely support his medical needs. The isolation has been devastating for him and for us. Every day he’s reminded that his disability means exclusion, not inclusion. We’ve been told his safety can’t be guaranteed, so access to education has become conditional. It’s exhausting to keep explaining that my child’s right to be at school safely, equitably, and fully included is a human right, not an optional service.” – Anonymous parent

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“My five-year-old son is receiving 3–4 different EA supports in a single day because the school hasn’t been able to figure out consistent support. When he does have assistance in class, that support is shared with two other children who require more intensive help, leaving my son with even less support. At lunch and recess, he has no supervision at all — which has already resulted in him running off the field once. I later found out that, instead of addressing this properly, the school placed him in a sectioned-off area where he couldn’t access the rest of the playground. To me, this feels like segregation rather than inclusion — the opposite of what schools are supposed to practice. Thinking that this might be our journey for the next 12 years is overwhelming.” – Anonymous parent

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“My child has suffered in self-esteem, self-determinism, and mental health concerns. They also hate school. Because of teacher attitudes, they now think that they won’t be able to have a good, well-paying career and also feel very ashamed of their diagnosis. They’re also a lot more cynical towards thinking people will help them and not judge them. The insistence on having Grade 9’a immediately start to self-advocate, when they already have school-related anxiety, is ridiculous. My child feels embarrassed every time they have to remind teachers in front of other students of their accommodations, which is quite frequent, and many times they just give up. My child (and I) has had to battle with teachers to get their accommodations allowed, and the accommodations are quite simple (more time on tests, able to work in quiet space if needed, body breaks, etc). I’m worried that my child may hurt themselves, might drop out of school, and/or never be motivated to find work that they are good and enjoy, BECAUSE of how the school system, high school in particular, has treated them.” – Anonymous parent

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“I’m an inclusion district specialist teacher, and I am exhausted, sad, angry and disappointed in this system I am a part of. I try very hard to make a difference, but it feels insurmountable most days. I am also a mom of a student with multiple designations in this system. I don’t have any answers. I am sorry.” – Anonymous parent

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“‘They misplaced my son’s entire file and “forgot” he’s autistic” – Anonymous parent

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“Transitioning into middle school, the model is completely different. The support we had access to in elementary school for sensory regulation for my G designated child with learning disability doesn’t exist in his current school. They have an academic support block that doesn’t work for a demand avoidant kiddo with ADHD. We had an early IEP meeting with the school counsellor, but so far none of our requests have been supported due to our child not needing “intensive supports”, but he’s at high risk for dropping out of school already– he missed all last week and now we’ve found out the one contact we had that my son felt connected to, this specific counsellor is leaving and I have to meet again with his new case manager and get everything going again and repeat all advocacy- but nothing has been put into place anyways due to lack of supports. It’s so frustrating- around and around just to be told there’s no access/support/body to help.” – Anonymous parent

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“A 16 year old child who was non-behavioural with learning disabilities received little to no support in middle school and is now majorly struggling with school, has about a grade 4 math level, has major anxiety and easily overwhelmed. Is struggling with mental health issues and on the verge of being a drop out due to school avoidance. Due to them being non-behavioural, no addiction issues, they don’t qualify for an alt school and can’t handle regular school.” – Anonymous parent

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“My child has zero supports in the classroom. Unable to read and write, there is no support for him to even write his name on his paper in grade 2. I collect his papers and work through them with him in the evening. We are exhausted, we are stretched so thin. My child is aware he is behind, and his confidence and self esteem is non existent and is now refusing school because of the lack of support and connection. Designation, flight risk, and psych ed incoming.” – Anonymous parent

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“My son started high school, gr. 9 last Sept. He was only allowed to attend a total of 19 full days between Sept-Jan. Because of his needs, specifically his learning disabilities, that were not being met-they refused any support or accommodations unless he was confined to the Learning Resource Room for his allowed 2-3 hours a day. No class time or instruction allowed. In late January after an incident with another student who was bullying him, he was not allowed to return at all. We were given the option of online which is not realistic for him, or to attend an alternative school for troubled youth. My son now works full time at 15 and says he lost his childhood because of not being allowed to go to school like other kids-this was his school story for the last 4yrs. He knows he will likely have to wait until he’s 18 to do any schooling now. Our child not being allowed to attend and everything else that has gone into trying to work with people who don’t seem to care at school has caused significant trauma, impacted our mental health, emotional health, my physical health has taken a hit due to the stress and financially…Well can’t make money to support your family when your constantly called away from work or have to be available to pick up/drop off for the couple hours a day your child is allowed to attend.

It’s ruined my faith in systems meant to support our children.” – Anonymous parent

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“Transition into grade 8 from elementary school. No breaks were given for the first week, and there were no teacher check-ins. I had to send all About Me and IEP over the weekend with no follow-up. Not providing accommodations listed.” – Anonymous parent

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“We had a huge cuts last year in our district and the school I primarily work at has 90 IEP‘s and eight education assistance. My son who is one to one was not getting his work done at school because of “staffing breaks, and not enough coverage“ the shortage also resulted in the school, not loading his AAC device with appropriate vocabulary so he could participate in all his classes. So now we are doing academics at home and he is only going to brick and mortar part time. this week because of further shortages and looking into the future with more EA cuts, LRT‘s are actually giving children who are neurodivergent the choice of support or suggesting to the students they can do it on their own. these students technically are given the choice of whether or not they won’t support if they choose not to have support. These are kids that will do nothing and likely learn nothing without having support.” – Anonymous Parent

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“My guy went from bell to bell support g designation in grade 8 to 0 support in grade 9. Nothing academic is done with him anymore.” – Anonymous parent

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I wish that supports were just in place. I’m so tired of having to prove we need things over and over.

I wish that so much did not depend on the individual support teacher you are assigned.

I wish there were more robust supports for after school care. We HAVE scd and I still can’t access after school care as no one wants him and in 2 years he’ll age out but still need care.

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“No functioning laptop at school has prevented my son from familiarizing himself with Google classroom materials when he’s at home (where he feels safe). I’ve had to purchase a laptop for him. Note: my son is at home doing online courses. He cannot do this without supervision so I can’t work.” – Anonymous parent

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“We have many supports, BUT they require me to be at home…homeschooling is working, but being a single-income family is hard.” – Anonymous parent

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“Never having the proper EA support, has resulted in a kid that lacks confidence, thinks they’re stupid, and hates school. Major anxiety around school.” – Anonymous parent

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“My Grade 6 daughter’s mild diagnosis has escalated to fight-or-flight violence due to accomodations not being used. Daily exclusion in sensory room or back room. I am not sure she is learning anything. She has been sent home causing financial loss to me as a single working mom.” – Anonymous parent

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“……an undiagnosed invisible disability for my youngest and more lack of support, three years behind at school, accused of being lazy and not trying hard enough, resulted in unjustly removed and attempted suicide in effort to get help.

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“In our school district, elementary school students are not given class until the numbers have been settled, and the school knows how many teachers they will have, and how many EA’s they can get. This is especially true at the local small school that fluctuates around 100 students. My kids are no longer in elementary, but students with Disabilities and anxiety were recommended to stay home for the first 2weeks of school, because they were unable to support them during that time, and it would set them back for the beginning of the school year.

In other words, “sorry, we can’t get our act together so your kid cannot attend school for the first two weeks”. No, not the individual school’s fault, as one of the principals (frequent changes), would try to assign EAs and students with known supports to know teachers before the school year, but frequently, things would still require big changes.” – Anonymous parent

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“Transportation not aligned with school timing. No assistance for driver on the bus with 3 wheelchair kids so first week’s driver quit.

No training for toileting in the first 2 weeks. Trained staff change each year. No EA in high school classes to support a kid in a wheelchair.” – Anonymous parent

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Once again, we have no plans to subject our son to B&M school.” – Anonymous parent

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“This year, specific supports were removed from my child with a disability, which has impacted his access to education, mental health, and safety at school as a result of putting policies and procedures before student needs and rights” – Anonymous parent

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“I work in education, and I’m very disappointed with the lack of training and time available to discuss students. If you’re new to working with a student and you need to know what works for the student, there is no time to shadow or ask the important questions. If you have a good admin, they might be able to find the time somewhere.

Where is the consistency for our students? They are nearly all dysregulated and having a hard time adjusting to being back at school.

The second week in I had a class teacher ask if the student I was supporting had an IEP.

It should be mandatory and signed off that class teachers have seen the list of designated kiddos, their in-class designation, diagnosis, and read their IEP.” – Anonymous staff and parent

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“Gr. 12 English teacher clearly didn’t bother to read the IEP. He made my very dyslexic child read Hamlet out loud one week into the school year. When my kid said he can’t read it, the teacher said, “If you can’t read, you should be in the special ed class.” First, the whole thing is discriminatory. And second, a week in, you should have time to glance through the IEP. And third, even if the teacher had not read the IEP, do they not know that 10-20% of kids are dyslexic? Why are you making all the kids read out loud?

This is a systemic issue because this is not an isolated incident. Usually, I send an email at the beginning of the year for teachers to check the IEP. I hadn’t had time to do that yet because i was busy with work. But it’s actually not my responsibility.” – Anonymous parent

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I wish there was a communication guide for school staff so that they didn’t continue to reinforce parents’ trauma when they email or phone us. The “what’s changed at home” email is especially triggering when you find out that the reason your child is having a hard time at school is because they’ve had 4 different subs this week or their EA is away or the school removed supports that were working because “the child doesn’t need them any more”. I wish the default wasn’t to blame home. – Anonymous Parent

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Why hold year-end IEP meetings to prepare supports for next teachers if they don’t even receive the IEP before school starts? The result has been repeated violations of the plan, leading to stress, heightened anxiety, and self-harm. – Anonymous parent

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“We have students who might be regulated but will do zero academics…2-4 in a class and lucky if an EA can even go to that class and bounce around for an hour a day. And, we have 2 full time kids away until mid Oct, another m/w/f from 9-12 (parents support and want this so year can start successfully), another two kids who do just 9-12 (parents are advocating for this knowing that their kids can only handle this but hope time can increase), another who is just coming for an hour.”- Anonymous education staff and parent

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“Recent cuts have resulted in loss of programs for category H&R students who are now left with no support and often don’t attend class” – Anonymous

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My kids have stopped attending school but the only way they were able to attend was with one-to-one EA support. They needed someone to greet them and help them find their way in and get settled, and they needed the co-regulation and the option to leave the room as needed with a safe and trusted adult.” – Anonymous parent

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I wish every gender non conforming student had free, easy and unencumbered access to a single stall washroom that met their needs.

-no key or permission required (students shouldn’t have to out themselves to admin or anyone to be able to pee)

– not in another building, on another floor or across the school

– safe, well maintained, clean, free from harmful graffiti – Anonymous Parent

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“My son missed out on 2 weeks of football camp because of his Tourette’s and the school wanting an in-service from Tourette’s Canada. This was done on day 4 of back to school with the whole football team as well as the principal and both vice principals. He was immediately included until parents went to the superintendent to complain. Now he’s excluded again because of his medical condition. Complete discrimination” – Anonymous parent

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“This year, specific supports were removed from my child with a disability, which has impacted his access to education, mental health, and safety at school as a result of putting policies and procedures before student needs and rights” – Anonymous parent

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Our school prohibited in-person access for students to our counsellors during the first week of school and only allowed communication through email to fix course schedules.

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My wish for education is

1. for those in higher up positions in the Ministry of Education and CC AND the Ministry of Finance realize that this isn’t charity.

That it’s pay now or pay more later.

2. That the Accessibility legislation be updated to strengthen education and enact accountability and transparency mandates.

3. That MCFD increase SCD or whatever they’re calling it now so that our kids can go to daycare like other kids.

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“Our school in SD 36 was intended to have 27 Divisions and only got approved for 25. One teacher was told he had to leave the school 3 days after it started. One was delegated to an empty position within the school. There was lots of shuffling. A Grade 2 teacher is now teaching Kindergarten.

My child is in a portable and told me they don’t have individual desks. They are using bins to store school supplies. Basically they cramped more kids into each class.” – Anonymous parent

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“My son requires access to sensory room daily. It is in his IEP. This year it took until November to get an EA available to be able to give him and another student in his class access to sensory room daily.” – Anonymous parent

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“Son was referred to Gifted enrichment program. He requires EA support to attend. Including access to scribe. There is no EA support available for this program and so he could not participate this year.” – Anonymous parent

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“If my kiddo didn’t have his full time EA’s he wouldn’t be going to public school period. They help him achieve his best every day he’s at school, through good and difficult times. They help with him being able to stay in the classroom, they help with scribing , helping with social situations on the playground, so much that they do.” – Anonymous parent

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“My son is in gr 5 and at a gr 1 reading / writing level.. EAs are essential in assisting with academics, breaking down the questions, scribing. Helping organize thoughts with and putting it onto paper, clarifying instruction, engaging/ encouraging social encounters with peers.” – Anonymous parent

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“My son grade 6, has a lot of safety concerns, Constantly needs reminders as he likes to feel certain texture in his mouth, he forget to wash his hands after using the washroom, He has few words, but he doesn’t ask for help, or request for food and water, without 1:1 support, he will be completely lost.” – Anonymous parent

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“Our morning transition can be very challenging, with heightened anxiety and often school refusal. EA support for transition help from the parking lot into the school can mean the difference between attending or not”. – Anonymous parent

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For those of you who made it through till the end,
who else is terrified at the state of our education system?

This is our collective scream.

Will the system respond?

We need action.