Introduction

Ebenezer Canadian Reformed School (ECRS) is an independent private school located in Smithers, BC. It enrolls approximately 240 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 from the Smithers to Houston area. Members of the school society must belong to the Canadian Reformed or United Reformed church federations.

ECRS offers a full range of education in many programs from elementary to high school. Academic courses range from technology to languages and from sciences to music. The school also has a healthy extracurricular community including volleyball, basketball, badminton, rock climbing, drama etc.

ECRS employs a substantial number of individuals as teaching staff and in the learning assistance program. The Learning Assistance department is always adapting to the needs of the students enrolled in order to help them achieve their goals in education.

The ECRS Board of Directors is elected by the membership and consists of seven (7) Directors. A Directors term is three (3) years and the elections take place at the Spring or Fall AGM.

In order to maintain a properly accessible school ECRS has implemented an Accessibility Committee to oversee identifying, addressing and resolving the barriers that may exist. Together with the input of students, membership and other visitors it will be the task of the committee to ensure that these barriers are removed in a timely manner.

The Accessibility Committee

The purpose of the Committee is to identify, prevent and remove barriers that exclude or limit individuals with disabilities from being able to fully participate in educational and school community life. The Committee is tasked with advising the Administration and/or Board of these barriers and ensuring that they are addressed.

Under the Accessible BC Act the Committee members must align with the following criteria to the furthest extent possible:

1. At least half the members are persons with disabilities (PWD) or are individuals who support or are from organizations that support PWD’s.
2. At least one member is an Indigenous person.
3. Members reflect the diversity of persons in BC.

 ECRS, throught the Accessibility Committee, is committed to providing an accessible environment for all the students enrolled. For this reason, the administration invests time in knowing any limiting disabilities of future students from the current membership in order that barriers may be addressed proactively. In order to provide an accessible learning facility to the membership, especially to those with disabilities, ECRS commits to the following:

• Engage with staff, membership and people with various disabilities to help in the development and review of the Accessibility Plan.
• Ensure that the ECRS Board Policies and Procedures align with the principles of accessibility.
• Improve access to all aspects of the facility, policies, programs, practices and services for the membership and community.
• Continually improve and develop aids for accessibility for people with disabilities at ECRS.

Accessibility Feedback Tool

The Accessibility Committee has provided copies of a questionnaire to the front desk at ECRS revolving around the accessibility experience of whomever fills it in. Feedback can come from students, staff, members and visitors. These persons may remain anonymous or can fill in their contact information should they wish to be contacted. Should this person prefer to email their responses they can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and their responses will be forwarded to the Accessibility Committee. Photos or videos are both welcome and encouraged to be sent to further explain the experienced barrier.

The following shows the content of the Accessibility Feedback Tool:

At ECRS we value our ability to provide top tier education in a supportive and constructive environment and school community. We acknowledge that there are barriers specific to different persons and that in order for them to gain access to our programs, building or grounds and to be provided with the services and support they need, these barriers need to be addressed.

We are thankful that you have taken the time to fill out this brief questionnaire in order to help us achieve this goal. This report can be submitted anonymously or you can include your contact information if you wish to be contacted.

1. Please provide the date that the barrier or support was experienced.
2. Please name the location where the barrier or support was experienced.
3. What were you or someone you know trying to access?
4. Being as specific as possible, what was the accessibility or support barrier that you experienced?
5. Do you have any recommendations that would improve or solve this barrier?
6. Please provide your name and email or phone number if you wish to be contacted.

Thank you for your time and your feedback. The Accessibility Committee will look in to your concern and contact you soon if you have provided contact details.

Accessibility Accomplishments and Barriers

At ECRS we strive to provide an inclusive school experience for all enrolled students. Several different aspects that are addressed and altered on an as-need basis include access to learning, policies and physical barriers. As there are no two persons with disabilities that are the same, so there are no two solutions that remedy a barrier in the same way for them. The school is proactive and involved in learning about upcoming student needs as well as changes to existing needs to improve the school and community experience for the student.

ECRS has invested heavily in improving physical access to the school. Some more noted and recent projects include new concrete sidewalks around the perimeter of the building, landscaping, bathroom upgrades and classroom updates. As noted above, ECRS monitors its membership and at this time does not foresee any wheelchair related disabilities.

1.  The sidewalks allow easy mobility around the school and have helped to eliminate the need to step up into the building. The covered breezeway to the gym is also concrete and is accessed easily from the school or gym.
2. The landscaping was also improved by levelling and removal of obstacles.
3. The elementary bathrooms were relocated and provide much more space. There are already several wheelchair accessible stalls in the school.
4. The Science Room was renovated and had the existing work stations removed. Now, instead of limited space between rows of stations, all stations are located along the perimeter of the room. This allows for easier maneuverability.

The Learning Assistance (LA) Department at ECRS is equipped to help students with learning disabilities of many varying degrees. Prior to being enrolled in the school the needs of a child with learning difficulties are identified by the administration through the parents and the LA Department is equipped to the furthest extent possible to help remove these barriers. Teachers are proactive in all grades to monitor their students should unforeseen barriers arise so that the child can receive the appropriate assistance.

The LA Department is run by a certified teacher with a varying number of additional workers. The number of and time commitment of the department is based solely on the needs of the enrolled students requiring assistance.

The LA Department uses a number of varying approaches to aid in the education progress of children with learning disabilities and barriers. Some of these include:

1. Teacher Assistant (TA) – When a child requires extra assistance in the classroom that cannot be provided directly by the teacher a TA will be assigned to them or that classroom.
2. Special Education – Where necessary, a child with a learning disability will be removed from the classroom to receive one-on-one lessons in a private setting.
3. Sensory Room – This room employs various tools and toys to help students with behavioral or attitudinal difficulties in order for them to feel relaxed and safe.

The LA Department is ever changing to adapt to the needs of the enrolled students. ECRS has gone to great lengths to provide for the needs of students with learning disabilities.

Being an independent private school, ECRS does have a membership fee schedule. The membership is required to pay enrollment fees.

At ECRS we recognize that not all members may be able to afford this amount without personal sacrifice. In order to ensure that enrolled students are not held back due to monetary disadvantages (both long or short term), the Board of Directors may change or reduce the fee on an as-needed basis. In doing this the student will not be disadvantaged due to economic barriers.

ECRS Three-Year Plan (2023-2026)

This three-year plan was developed for ECRS in order to remove barriers currently present to people with various disabilities in our school community. This plan will remain a living document that can be altered at any time in order to sufficiently help those with disabilities who are currently not enrolled.

This plan is based on the feedback gathered from staff, members, students and the inspection of the facility by the Accessibility Committee. The following areas have been made a priority for improvement in terms of accessibility to ECRS:

• Learning-Enhance the accessibility of access to learning for all students including those with disabilities.
• Physical and Architectural – Improve accessibility to the physical and architectural school environment for all individuals.
• Policy and Practice – Review and revise current policies and practices to ensure that they align with the principles of accessibility. Included in this is the identification and removal of gaps in staff training and knowledge on accessibility issues.
• Resources –Increase awareness and training on assistive technology for students with disabilities.

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Accessibility Committee will meet quarterly to discuss and review progress of the implemented Three-Year Plan. The plan will continue to be evaluated for its effectiveness and altered when necessary.

At the end of the Three-Year Plan, a reviewed plan will be developed and implemented using the same channels as the first. It will include input from the staff, members, students and persons with disabilities from within the community.