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District support staff

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The people who work with your children and their teachers are there to help ensure all the children in the school develop their skills to the best of their ability in a safe and welcoming environment.

Read below for information on the roles of some of the specially trained people who provide extra support to students and teachers.

District-Based Support Staff:

These are teachers and other specially trained support staff who are usually assigned to several different schools. They work with school staffs and help to develop special programs for learners.

District-based support staff may include:

District Resource Teachers (DRTs)

  • DRTs work with classroom teachers to adapt and modify materials to better meet the needs of Special Needs learners, including visually/hearing impaired, learning disabled, and/or those with behaviour problems.  

Speech and Language Pathologists (SLPs)

  • SLPs are trained to work in the area of speech development.
  • They work with teachers to assess a student’s speech development and to make suggestions for remediation, if needed.

School Psychologists

  • School psychologists are trained to assess students who are having difficulties learning. This evaluation is called a Psycho-Educational Assessment.
  • They work with teachers to determine the need for assessment and to make recommendations based on the results.

Community School Teams (CST)

Community School Teams consist of a Coordinator, Teacher, Youth and Family Worker (YFW), and a Programmer. These teams work with students in both elementary and secondary schools. They offer academic as well as social and emotional support to students and parents.

CST Coordinator

  • Coordinators develop community partnerships with schools.
  • Together with school and community groups, they determine what programs best suit the needs of the schools and the community. 
  • They also organize after-school programs for students and provide assistance to school staffs on special projects.

CST Teacher

  • CST Teachers support the transition of students moving from elementary to secondary schools.
  • They may provide intensive academic support to individual students and/or groups of students. 

CST Youth and Family Worker (YFW)

  • YFWs are trained to support the social and emotional needs of students.
  • They often work with students who do not receive other kinds of support.
  • They work with students and families outside the classroom.
  • They help students and families directly, as well as make connections with the school, school community, and outside agencies.

CST Programmer

  • Programmers work with coordinators to supervise programs in the schools.
  • They also train high school students to help with lunch hour and after school programs to meet the needs of elementary students.

 

Non-Teaching District Support Staff:

These are trained staff who offer specialized support services.

Multicultural Liaison Workers (MCLWs)

  • MCLWs are familiar with the public school system and have experience in issues related to cultural integration and cross cultural communication.
  • They offer support, in a variety of languages, to help students and parents understand the public school system and adjust to living and learning in a new culture.
  • They also offer support to schools to help assess the needs of ESL students, and to help establish programs to suit the needs of students from a variety of backgrounds.    

 

Settlement Workers in Schools (SWIS) Program

  • SWIS work directly with immigrant and refugee students and families.
  • They help families adjust to and settle into their new community, home, and school.

 

School Liaison Officers (SLOs)

  • SLOs are members of the Vancouver Police Department.
  • A single officer usually works in a number of different schools.
  • They offer programs on safety, the law, and a police officer’s role in the community.
  • They focus on crime prevention, and investigate any illegal activities that happen. 

 

School Based Community Nurse 

  • Community nurses assist individual students with physical and emotional health concerns.
  • They monitor students who have identified medical conditions.
  • They refer students to appropriate community resources.
  • They coordinate the health room resources.
  • They also teach or co-teach health related classes to groups of students.