Inner City Schools – The Hardest Schools, The Best People!
Working in inner city schools in Hamilton is no joke. These are some of the hardest schools to walk into as an Educational Assistant. The needs are huge, the student behaviour can be intense, and you’re constantly in motion trying to hold things together. But here’s the part that might surprise people: these are the schools where I feel the most respected and appreciated as an EA.
At inner city schools, staff understand the role of the EA — not just in theory, but in practice. They know it’s EAs who keep the school running, especially when things get tough. When teachers, admins, or other staff back off, it’s often the EAs who step in and keep things from falling apart.
The SERTs and LERTs at these schools? Easily some of the best I’ve ever worked with. These are leaders doing the job right — managing 30+ EAs when the school really needs 50. They’re in the trenches with us. They don’t just give directions — they jump into situations, listen, support, and problem-solve. They care, and you can feel it every day.
The chaos at these schools can be unreal. I’ve worked with students who don’t qualify for EA support but still get someone shadowing them all day because of how dangerous or unpredictable their behaviour is. I was even once told to follow around a Grade 8 student just to “make sure nothing bad happens.” What? That’s not support — that’s bodyguard duty. Meanwhile, students who should have an EA don’t get one because the system is broken.
A lot of this mess is tied to parenting and a school system too scared to hold certain students accountable. But despite all the weirdness, I would still choose to work in an inner city school every time.
Why? Because they get it.
They understand what it takes to get through a school day. They know that real teamwork and communication matter. Inner city schools are the only places I regularly see actual game plans: morning meetings with the whole team, EAs strategizing on how to support each other, and SERTs showing up when things get hard — not just sending emails from behind a desk. These are schools where you feel supported, where you're seen, and where your role is treated with the respect it deserves.
Now let me talk about the other side of the coin: Ancaster. Every time I get a placement in that area, I know what I’m walking into — entitled kids with zero boundaries and adults who treat EAs like second-class citizens. The kids? Spoiled and rude, which isn’t surprising considering the parenting culture. But the staff? Cold, standoffish, and often downright rude.
In Ancaster, no one talks to you, there’s no morning plan, and you have to ask — sometimes beg — just to make sure you’re getting a break or a proper lunch. That’s pathetic. You’d think they’d have some basic respect for the people stepping into their school, especially when we’re doing work most of them wouldn’t survive for an hour doing.
Inner city schools bend over backwards to make sure EAs are taken care of. Ancaster schools can’t be bothered.
The bonus of inner city schools? The bigwigs at the board office — the directors and supers and all those other “higher-ups” — they avoid these schools like the plague. They’re scared of the kids and the situations they might see, so they stay away. Which is great, because most of them don’t care about inner city schools anyway, and they care even less about special education students — especially on the Catholic side of things. That's just the truth.
So yeah, inner city schools are tough. But if you’re an EA who works hard and knows what you’re doing, this is where you’ll feel valued, respected, and like part of a real team. And in this job, that kind of support matters more than anything else.