Setting priorities while being flexible is getting the job done. That’s how the English as Additional Language Coordinator described their approach to address the needs of 28-hundred EAL students in the Saskatoon Public Schools Division.

Shauna Tilbury says they started planning to make adjustments last spring when they suspected the provincial budget for this school year could mean staff reductions. Tilbury says a study of other large districts around the province indicated they used larger pupil-to-teacher ratios for their EAL students so a similar plan was adopted for the Saskatoon division.  She points out teachers are placed based on where they are needed the most and changes are common with some students no longer needing the specialized training while others are added.

The division cut 15 EAL positions after the provincial budget allocation was finalized last spring as 5-million dollars was from trimmed from the operating budget for this school year. The division also eliminated 18 full-time equivalent teacher-librarian positions and cut the Grade 8 Industrial Arts and Home Economics programs.