School issues

The end of Matthew's first school year is fast approaching. Overall it has been a great school year for Matt. he is learning new things, participating in the class, using more expressive language and has found his own unique way to connect with other children...most of the time.
There are times when things go sideways. Last week was a particularly tough week for Matthew, his teacher and the aids who deal with him. He reverted back to behaviours that we thought were a thing of the past. There were many contributing factors to a tough day; sickness, sub teachers, sub aid workers, a change in school routine. Last week all of these were factors in Matthew's behaviour. As his parent I can list them all and deal with the onslaught of behaviour with an understanding that things will normalize when his routine normalizes, and provide safety, discipline and routine at home.
However, the staff in the school are not always so savvy, and fair enough. They have other children to mind, classes to teach, activities to plan etc. The school can't stop for one wayward child.
Last week I was left with the uneasy feeling that these occurrences with Matthew will become more frequent, behaviour more extreme, and the tolerance for it will become less. It leads me to ask the question ' why does the government pour millions of dollars of funding into autism early intervention treatment, yet not follow it up by providing schools with appropriate training and staffing once early intervention is finished? In Vancouver many schools will not allow private autism therapists to work with in the school. Yet their staff is totally untrained in dealing with autism behaviour issues.
Matthew's school is a wonderful school with fantastic staff. The principal is proactive, the staff are involved and committed, and the support staff is ever steady, kind and supportive. However the staff is already stretched thin with only the bare minimum of special support workers. Very few of them are trained and experienced in behaviour management, let alone autism. Their role in the school is so vitally important, yet they are not trained.
Coincidentally a friend of mine told me of an incident that happened at her child's school in the same week. The autistic child in question has become violent toward other children. The first thought that popped into my head was that this child has been allowed to get away with extreme behaviour because the school staff does not understand that autistic children fully understand that they have gotten away with it. My second thought was how long will it be before I get a call from the school telling me that Matthew has done something harmful to himself or others? At the rate things are going, my guess is next school year, unless things change.

I would love to hear about your thoughts and experiences on this topic.