A dozen employees with Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools were given layoff notices Tuesday.
All 12 aboriginal student retention workers were told their positions are being eliminated, but that there is an option to find other employment within the school division.
The move comes as the division is facing a $9.7 million budget shortfall after the provincial budget, which the school board says amounts to $400 less per student per year.
“With six new schools that are being opened, 550 new students that we’re anticipating in the fall, this is definitely a challenge,” Diane Boyko, Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools board chair, said. “We’re working hard to mitigate the things that we can but this is definitely going to be an interesting year and a very challenging year.”
Aboriginal student retention workers did outreach work with students and families to ensure the wellness of students, that they were attending school and to help with graduation rates.
“It’s difficult for all of us as a board to agree that that category of our student retention workers be eliminated at this point because it was doing good work,” Boyko said.
The staff worked in conjunction with aboriginal student achievement coordinators who will now be taking on the retention work.
Provincial funding was previously in place for aboriginal student retention workers. Grants were then put in place of the provincial funding, but those were cut overtime, according to Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools spokesperson Derrick Kunz.
The graduate rate for indigenous students in the Catholic school division last year was 71 per cent, compared to the provincial rate of 60 per cent.
