The Situation at TEC

I understand that working at an elementary school must be challenging. That said, I am very concerned with the situation at Tamarac Education Center.

Three times per week, I go to the school to drop my youngest off at Fun Time Pre-School, which is located in a classroom in the same wing as the younger classes. The pre-school doesn’t open its doors until 1pm, so the Fun Time crew waits in the hallway while students are milling about.

At TEC, assuming it isn’t too cold out, all kids are expected to go outside to play after they’re done eating lunch. By the time I get there, most kids are finished eating and in the process of getting their snow gear on.

Since the beginning of the year, I have spent a great many lunch hours helping kids, especially the younger ones, get dressed properly. There are supervisors (grossly outnumbered and overworked supervisors) and teachers who do their best to help as many students as possible, but since these people have to make their way outside to watch the kids on the playground, they can’t stay inside to attend to the kids who aren’t ready yet. And there are a lot of kids.

When I look at the students, I’m sometimes can’t believe they’re old enough to be in school. They look so small, so bewildered with all the chaos. Some of these kids are only 5 years old, and are now required to take on an unrealistic level of independence. They’re used to having Mommy or Daddy help them get dressed, or at the very least make sure they did it right themselves so that they’re fit to be out in -10 degree temperatures.

What they’re not used to is having grown-ups hollering for them to hurry up and get outside. And I’m sure they’re not used to having to search through mountains of belongings to find that other mitten, only to ask for help and be told, “too bad, you’ll have to go out with just one.” (That’s not an example; that’s something I heard a TEC teacher tell a young student last Wednesday. It was -8 degrees outside that day.)

A lot of the time, I spend my wait time zippering jackets, finding renegade mittens, and fixing ski pants. Other times, I’m asked by students to go get someone from the office, to find some toilet paper, or even to check why a little girl is crying in a classroom. I don’t mind at all, but I wonder who they would ask if I (or another Fun Time parent) wasn’t there. After the first rush, there usually isn’t anyone around to ask for help. Most times, there is seldom an adult to be seen until the bells rings at 1pm.

My little boy is scheduled to start grade primary in September, and I planned to start a full-time job while he was in school. After seeing the lack of supervision and assistance these young kids receive, I have decided to put off work for awhile so I can go help him (and others) at the school. This decision is forced; I’m not exaggerating the state of affairs for the sake of doling out criticism, and I’m not one of those crazy mothers who are at TEC every two minutes to complain about something.

What I am is a mother who, had I not been there to see the problems first hand, would have sent her little boy to school and assumed he’d be well taken care of, like I’m sure most parents do. I am also a mother who has reasonable standards for appropriate supervision and student assistance, which are not being met in that wing as far as myself and many others are concerned.

To be clear, it seems as though most of the current staff is doing their best in a difficult-to-manage situation. I don’t know whose problem this is to solve; do we need an on-site reassessment of staff-to-student ratios based on the needs of younger students? A funding increase from the Department of Education, to allow for hiring of more supervisory staff? Recruitment of volunteers to ensure the students’ needs are being met?

As a parent, I don’t have the tools to solve the existing problems. What I have is the luxury of being able to go to the school every day to make sure my own child is getting the help he needs, and helping as many other kids as I can in the process. I also have a voice, and I’ll use it to call attention to the problems at TEC until they are solved, on behalf of other parents who don’t have that same luxury.