Seven Oaks offers buyouts to social workers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/05/2023 (1223 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After seven years of underfunding by the Progressive Conservative government, Winnipeg’s Seven Oaks School division is offering voluntary buyouts to social workers who want to retire or resign instead of adapting to its new support services model in the fall.

This is but one of the many instances of PC cuts to staff and student programs. Seven Oaks School Division is grappling with limited resources, and government funding has not been commensurate with cost and enrollment increases. The result is that social workers may leave and students will get less support.

The Manitoba Association of School Social Workers says that, of late, there has been a spike in the number of students needing their services. This is coupled with pandemic-related challenges, which have led to many school divisions hiring more social services to tend to the needs of their students. However, for Seven Oaks School Division, the reverse is the case.

Social workers offer very essential services in our school system. They provide counselling to students and parents, they advocate for services in the students’ best interests, they contribute to community development programs and they facilitate home-school collaboration. All these services help increase academic success, manage conflict in our schools and maximize the educational opportunities available to our kids. Losing social workers will have a tremendous impact on our schools.

While the Progressive Conservatives keep cutting the very supports that were put in place to facilitate their education, Manitoba students deserve better and the NDP is committed enhancing education funding every year, not just in an election year.

My NDP colleagues and I will continue to work tirelessly in the legislature to make sure our students have the supports they need when they need it. If you would like to contact me regarding the damage PC cuts have done to our education system, or any issue of concern, you can reach out to me by phone at 204-582-1550, or by email at nahanni.fontaine@yourmanitoba.ca. Feel free to also stop by my office at 1763 Main St.