Reinstate SSB Staffing 3.0 FTE
Motion 5 · Special Board Meeting, April 20, 2026
Summary
- Sought to reinstate 3.0 FTE student support worker B (SSB) positions proposed for elimination in the draft budget, affecting Britannia and David Thompson secondary schools.
- SSBs work specifically with at-risk youth on social-emotional learning, mental health, behavior, and learning difficulties; trustees noted SSBs are not interchangeable with SSAs, who rarely work in secondary schools.
- Student surveys and a City of Vancouver youth survey both identified declining mental health and a need for more in-school mental health supports.
- Opposition noted the draft budget offsets the SSB reduction with additional SSA positions allocated based on enrollment need.
- Proposed funding source was operating contingency.
Vote
Public comments
Read all 2 statements
Transcript
10 segments
You can just add it as of. as a friendly courtesy, we don't mind if you just want. Ah, perfect, okay. Flavia, you are- And that, and that.
We'll just update it with the right dollar value. And then in the meantime, as we all have the information we've provided to trustees, is there a seconder for this motion? Trustee Reddy, thank you.
Thank you to staff for rolling with us as we make amendments on the fly. I appreciate it. And we'll ask Trustee Ma. It has been seconded by Trustee Reddy. Would you excuse me, trustees?
We have a lot to do tonight. Thank you very much. Trustee Ma, go ahead and introduce your motion.
Thank you. So at the April 13th, 2026 special board committee meeting of the whole meeting, The Vancouver District Students Council reps spoke about the importance of supporting student mental health in our secondary schools. They surveyed students and survey results showed that students identified youth workers as playing important roles in supporting student mental health. Recently, at the City of Vancouver's Children, Youth and Family Advisory Committee, serving as the VSB's liaison trustee to this committee, City of Vancouver staff showed a report from their Building Safer Communities recent survey, where they surveyed over 400 youth, asking them about what would improve their quality of life. Mental health support was stated as critically needed, and the survey showed that student mental health continues to decline in our city. In last year's budget, we reallocated nine FTE from the Safe and Caring Schools program to fund more SSAs. Some of the nine FTE were SSB positions. Student support worker Bs or SSBs work with our at-risk youth who need additional support and in areas of social, emotional learning, behavior, mental health, and or learning difficulties. The draft 2026-27 financial plan proposes a 3.0 FTE cut to SSB staffing and states that these cuts will affect Britannia and David Thompson. If this staff is not needed specifically for these two programs, the SSB positions could be redeployed elsewhere to other schools where they can continue to support our at-risk youth. Indicators show that the need for mental health supports have not gone down, so cutting this valuable staffing will negatively impact vulnerable youth. And I would also like to say that we know that time and time again, we hear about mental health as one of the key goals. Well, mental... wellbeing is one of the key goals of our education plan. And yet when we cut SSB service, these personnel that work with youth, with health and mental health, social challenges, behavioral challenges, we are doing a disservice to some of our most needy students in our district. So we need to reverse this. We need to find the money. We can redeploy these people. We need, to have these people on the ground working with our youth.
Okay. Trustee Freedcoat and then Trustee Fraser.
Thank you, Chair. I am in support of this motion. I think the data... and the voices of the students are very clear. Mental health issues are increasing day after day, and we need more staff that works with the students in the schools every single day. Cutting these type of services is not benefiting anyone. It's just increased more issues in our community. And so I would support that whereas staffing is actually required, we should, we should be deploying more staff over there. So overall, this motion reflects what the students are telling us. They need consistent and accessible mental health support in our schools. So I will be supporting this. Thank you.
Trustee Fraser.
Thank you, Chair. And I appreciate we're having this discussion and there are so many needs in the district. If you look at the engagement summary report, pretty much anything we spend money on, we could spend more money on. I appreciate the work that staff did in this part of the financial plan, which is the enrollment-driven changes in staffing. So while there will be three fewer SSB support staff, there will be three additional SSA staff. And I know it's not easy to... make changes, but I appreciate that the intent is to meet the, the intent is to reallocate the staffing positions based on enrollment to where the need is the greatest. So I will not be supporting this motion.
Trustee Reddy. Thanks, Chair, and thanks, Trustee Ma, for this budget amendment on the three FTE SSB. I worked very closely with both of these secondary schools in the district for almost 10 years, and specifically with the SSPs, and just want to confirm how unique the relationships are with students, sometimes being the reason that they're coming back to school on a daily basis or able to ask questions and navigate the life of K-12 students. life and education and transitioning out of high school as well. So I want to thank you for highlighting that and the importance that really these specific roles play, that they're not interchangeable, that these relationships are built and critical to the success of the students who depend on them. So I do support the amendment and appreciate where it's coming from. Thank you.
Any further comments before we go to a vote?
Okay, Trustee Ma, you can close and then we'll go to a vote.
Thank you, Chair. So a comment just to say that SSAs are not the same as SSBs. SSBs are in a different category unto themselves where they work specifically with at-risk youth and SSAs predominantly do not work in our secondary schools. So again, I really strongly urge you to support this. Our youth deserve it. and they need it, and we need to do this.
Statement Watch
Thank you very much, Chair. And I'm going to pass it over to Patricia McNeil, Director, to give you an update on the engagement. Thank you. Thank you. The engagement summary report included in this evening's package and posted to our website outlines input we received to assist in the board's consideration of the 2026-2027 financial plan. Engagement activities were grounded in our education plan, the framework for enhancing student learning, and follow best practice standards by the International Association of Public Participation, or IAB2. Input was sought from inherent rights holders, stakeholder groups, students, families, staff, and the broader public through a mix of methods and activities. The engagement period was open from January 12th to April 16th and included multiple opportunities such as meetings, workshops, and discussions with inherent rights holders and former stakeholder groups, as well as written submissions to the board, an online survey, which was available publicly and to staff, as well as students, and last week's Committee of the Whole meeting and public delegation meeting. Trustees received a copy of all written submissions on a weekly basis, as well as a copy of survey responses in early March. An interim summary report was available that first week of March as well. The report in your package this evening is an update to that interim report to include information about input and feedback received since early March. Across engagement activities, participants highlighted priorities related to classroom staffing and supports, a focus on student learning and course offerings, as well as schedules, learning resources, student wellbeing and mental health, inclusion and equity, facilities and school or learning environments, as well as supports to student families. It's important to note that priorities raised through this year's engagement reflect patterns that we've heard through previous year's financial planning, and I would be pleased to take any questions trustees may have.
Statement Watch
ELLIE WILSON- Thanks for the question through the chair. Our resource teachers in schools provide a variety of services. I think sort of to your question, they're responding to every student's individual education plan, and those vary across the needs of all students. So there would be small group work, there's push-in support that happen in classrooms, and it's all directed by a student's individual education plan. So those folks coming into our schools would need to familiarize themselves with those individual education plans and get up to speed about how to implement that. Certainly our school-based resource teachers could leave weekly, I would say, detailed plans about how they're working with students, but those would be constantly evolving plans. And I think... A lot of our folks who are sick for a day or two don't necessarily have those very detailed, detailed plans that would provide guidance to somebody. Certainly someone who's gonna be away could prepare that to support the work.
Do you have a follow-up? Go ahead.
Thank you. So if a teacher is absent, a resource teacher is absent and there is a TTOC in place for that, they won't have the full information of those particular cases for those students. Is that correct?
Through the chair, that is correct. They would have to take a bit of time to learn how to do that.