ISSP Not Being Followed in Nunavut: What Parents Can Do

Getting an ISSP written is hard. Getting it followed is sometimes harder. In Nunavut, the gap between what an ISSP says on paper and what actually happens in the classroom is real, common, and not simply a matter of bad faith from individual teachers. The territory had 131 Student Support Assistants (SSAs) for 10,852 students in 2023–2024. SSA hours promised in one September can disappear by November when a staff member leaves or is redirected to cover a different classroom.

But "we don't have the staff" is not a legal defense for failing to implement a formally agreed support plan. Here is how to document the gap and enforce compliance.

Why ISSPs Stop Being Followed

Before jumping to escalation, it helps to understand the most common reasons ISSP implementation breaks down in Nunavut:

SSA departures. The territory's SSA workforce is small and frequently changes. When an SSA who was assigned to your child leaves or takes medical leave, there may be no replacement available. Schools do not always proactively notify parents when this happens.

Teacher turnover. Nunavut has extremely high educator turnover — teachers often rotate every one to two years. A new teacher who arrives in September may not have been briefed on the ISSPs for the students in their class, particularly if the handoff was rushed.

SSTs diverted to general duties. Student Support Teachers (SSTs) — who are meant to oversee ISSP implementation and provide direct support — are frequently pulled by principals to cover general classroom teacher absences. When this happens, SST-delivered supports in the ISSP stop.

No SSA available in the community. In smaller hamlets, the school may simply have no SSAs employed at all. A student assigned Tumit Level 4 or 5 support on paper is receiving it on paper alone.

Understanding the reason matters because your escalation strategy is slightly different depending on whether the school has the staff and is making a choice not to deploy them, versus whether there is a genuine resource gap that requires escalation to the RSO level.

Step 1: Confirm What the ISSP Specifies

Before escalating anything, re-read your child's current ISSP carefully. Confirm:

• What specific supports are documented (SSA hours, frequency of SST check-ins, specific accommodations)
• How often each support should occur
• Who is responsible for delivering each component
• Whether the ISSP includes any review or monitoring schedule

Sometimes parents believe supports have been removed when the ISSP was actually modified at a meeting they attended but did not fully absorb. Make sure you are working from the current signed version of the document.

If you do not have a copy of the current ISSP, request one in writing from the principal immediately. Under the Education Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (ATIPP), you have the right to your child's complete educational file.

Step 2: Document the Gap With Specifics

A complaint that says "the school isn't following the ISSP" is significantly weaker than one that says "the ISSP specifies 90 minutes of SSA support daily during literacy instruction. Between February 3 and March 14, my child received SSA support on 4 out of 30 school days, as documented by the attached log."

Specificity is everything. Start keeping a written record:

• What support was supposed to happen (per the ISSP)
• Whether it happened each day (ask your child, check with the teacher)
• Any communications from the school about why it was not provided
• Any incidents or consequences that resulted from the missing support (behavioral incidents, academic regression, emotional distress)

This log does not need to be elaborate. A simple table — date, support supposed to happen, did it happen, notes — is enough. Keep it for at least two to three weeks before escalating so you have a pattern, not a one-time event.

Step 3: Request a School Team Meeting in Writing

Send a written email or letter to the principal and the Student Support Teacher requesting an urgent school team meeting to review ISSP implementation. State specifically:

• What supports the ISSP specifies
• What has not been happening
• What you are requesting from the meeting (a plan to restore implementation, or a written explanation of why implementation has changed)

Ask for a response within 10 business days. If the response is that the SSA is unavailable, ask what the school's interim plan is — what supports will be in place while the position is being filled, and by what date a replacement will be found.

Do not accept verbal responses to written requests. If the principal calls you, follow up with an email: "Thank you for calling on [date]. This confirms that you are aware the SSA support specified in the ISSP has not been provided since [date]. Can you confirm in writing what the plan is to restore this support?"

Step 4: Escalate to the DEA and RSO If the Meeting Produces No Results

If the school team meeting does not produce a concrete plan with a specific timeline, the next escalation is simultaneous: written complaint to your local District Education Authority (DEA) and to your Regional School Operations (RSO) director.

Your complaint should include:

• A summary of what the ISSP specifies
• A summary of what has not been implemented and for how long
• Documentation of the gap (your log, any emails you've received)
• A request for written confirmation of the plan to achieve compliance, with dates

RSO controls SSA allocation across the region. If your community genuinely has no SSAs, the RSO can authorize emergency resource allocation or explore alternative arrangements — remote behavioral consultation, itinerant support visits, or interim classroom modifications.

The Coalition of Nunavut DEAs (CNDEA) at [email protected] can advise on the DEA complaint process if you are unsure how to approach your local DEA.

When the Reason Is Budget, Not Availability

Schools sometimes stop implementing ISSP supports not because they lack staff, but because they are making an internal resource allocation decision — redirecting SSA hours to another student they consider higher priority.

This is the school's decision to make within their staffing constraints, but it does not mean the ISSP is no longer binding. If the school cannot implement the agreed ISSP, they must either:

1. Formally reconvene the school team (which includes you) to modify the ISSP, or
2. Escalate the resource gap to RSO for emergency allocation

What they cannot do is simply stop implementing a formal support plan without notifying you and involving you in any change.

If the modification conversation happens without you, or if you are pressured to sign an ISSP revision that reduces your child's support level without adequate justification, you have the right to reject that revision under Section 43 of the Education Act and request a Ministerial Review.

The Human Rights Angle for Sustained Failures

If ISSP non-compliance has been ongoing for months, and if the supports being denied are connected to your child's disability — an SSA for a child with a severe intellectual disability, behavioral support for a child with FASD, extended time for a child with ADHD — the sustained failure to accommodate may constitute discrimination under the Nunavut Human Rights Act.

The duty to accommodate does not evaporate because of staffing shortages. A school that knowingly fails to implement accommodations for a child's disability over an extended period, without a credible plan to restore them, is creating adverse conditions based on disability.

Filing a complaint with the Nunavut Human Rights Tribunal ([email protected], toll-free 1-866-413-6478) is a significant step, but it is available — and in cases of chronic, documented ISSP non-compliance, it has real teeth.

The Nunavut Special Ed Advocacy Playbook includes the communication log template, complaint letter templates for the DEA and RSO, and guidance on the Ministerial Review and Human Rights pathways. Because the ISSP your child has is only as useful as the system's willingness to follow it — and documentation is what makes the system take that seriously.

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