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March 06, 2025 - 7:00 AM
The Kamloops-Thompson school district has backtracked on its plans to hire unqualified workers as education assistants in the classroom.
A long-time teacher in the district, who iNFOnew.ca has decided not identify due to potential job repercussions, said the Responsible Adult strategy has been pulled off the table.
Certified education assistants require at least a year of post-secondary education and are trained to support students with complex learning needs.
In early January, School District 73 staff presented a plan to recover funds for a deficit incurred in part through an accounting error in 2024.
At the same time, the district proposed hiring responsible adults with minimal first aid training and completion of a 20-hour online course to cover for certified eduction assistant absences.
In a previous interview with iNFOnews.ca, School District 73 superintendent Rhonda Nixon said the Responsible Adult option was not intended to replace a eduction assistant and was not related to the budget strategy.
“This is a strategy that is very necessary right now because we’re seeing 30 to 40 per cent of our roles go unfilled when a person needs to take a sick day, it’s a temporary strategy to manage high absenteeism, especially during flu season," she said in the Jan. 17 interview.
“The responsible adult is there to provide addition support and supervision and reduce stress on teachers and students so they don’t get worn out. There won’t be a savings, we have more vacancies we can fill so this isn’t a financial solution in this case.”
The strategy of using Responsible Adults was proposed at the same time the district announced it would add not-yet certified education assistants to the relief roster. Both strategies sparked a heated media release by the Canadian Union of Public Employees issued Jan. 17.
“CEAs need years of formal education, ongoing training, and be able to demonstrate they understand the complex needs of students. They can’t be replaced by just anyone off the street,” said CUPE 3500 president Dawn Armstrong in the release.
"School District 73 needs to be addressing the low-earnings and poor working conditions – the real reasons why they can’t attract and keep Certified Education Assistants.”
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The teacher doesn’t know whether or not not-yet certified CEAs have been added to the district’s roster.
It isn’t clear why the district hasn’t gone forward with the Responsible Adult strategy or if it will be proposed again in the future.
It also isn’t clear when the union was informed the Responsible Adult strategy wasn’t going ahed or whether not-yet certified assistants have been added to the roster.
No one from CUPE 3500 or School District 73 administration responded to a request for comment by publication time.
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