B.C. mom says EA shortage means her son can only go to school 2 days a week – BC [Video]

A Nanaimo, B.C., mother whose child is a vulnerable learner says her son is being denied equitable access to education due to the province-wide shortage of education assistants.

Daniel Gardner is blind and has autism and epilepsy.

He has just started kindergarten and mom Ashley Gardner said they have been preparing for this transition since January.

“I would say I thought everything was going actually pretty well up until the day before the first day of school for him,” she told Global News.

“So ever since that day, things have been not going as we would have expected or hoped.”

Gardner said the day before the first day of school, their principal told her that there was no education assistant, or EA, available to support her son so he would not be able to attend school.

She said the principal told her no one had the specific training to manage her son’s seizure condition, even though the school district …