A Tale of Two School Boards – Opposite Responses to Parental Criticism of Announced Special Education Disruptions

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A Tale of Two School Boards – Opposite Responses to Parental Criticism of Announced Special Education Disruptions

 

June 26, 2026

 

SUMMARY

 

Under the leadership of the Ford Government’s increasing and controversial micromanagement of school boards across Ontario, there is a growing and worrisome pattern of cuts and other harmful decisions when it comes to special education programs and supports. Parents, and especially parents of students with disabilities/special education needs, are increasingly fighting back.

 

It looks like the effectiveness of their advocacy efforts may depend on whether local democracy still survives at their school board. Here are two illustrative cases in point that garnered media attention this week. It’s the tale of two school boards!

 

First, the Ottawa Catholic School Board was planning to cut bus attendant staff on their school buses to and from school each day. Parents fought back. It imperils students with complex disabilities and students with fragile health conditions. The June 25, 2026 Ottawa Citizen includes a report, set out below, documenting that the school board relented and cancelled that cut. That board is still governed by elected school board trustees.

 

Second, and in sharp contrast, parents of students with disabilities/special education needs have advocated in opposition to the Toronto District School Boards disruptive plan to relocate students at the Haydon Park High School, a special education school, to another building. TDSB wants to populate Haydon Park with students from another school that must relocate. This comes after TDSB has gradually bled the student population at that school by not admitting students to Grade 9 or 10, with the seeming plan to eventually close it down.

 

As for this forced relocation of Haydon students, TDSB has dug in, and is going ahead with its plans, as is reported by an article in the June 25, 2026 Toronto Star (See below).

 

A key difference is that the TDSB is not governed by elected trustees. The Ford Government ousted them one year ago. It is instead governed by an unelected provincial Supervisor. He was picked by and reports solely to Education Minister Paul Calandra. That Supervisor has no background in education. He is only required to work three days per week, and is reportedly paid $350,000 per year for that part-time position.

 

Unlike school board trustees, that Supervisor has never attended any meetings of the TDSB Special Education Advisory Committee. Since the beginning of this year, he has refused to even meet with its Chair David Lepofsky. Education Minister Calandra has also directed all provincially appointed Supervisors not to speak to the media.

 

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Ottawa Citizen June 25, 2026

 

Originally posted at https://ottawacitizen.com/news/parents-ocsb-reverses-decision-school-bus-attendants

 

Parents relieved as Catholic school board reverses decision to cut bus attendants

Nearly three weeks after learning of the cuts, the school board announced it will be reinstating the school bus attendant program for students with special needs.

 

By Natasha Baldin

 

Amanda Jollymore says she was overwhelmed with emotion when she found out that her daughter, Mia McPhail, would continue to have access to a school bus attendant as the Ottawa Catholic School Board reversed a decision to cut the program. Photo by Jean Levac /Postmedia

 

Just one more thing.

That’s the slogan Amanda Jollymore and Brian McPhail live by while caring for their six-year-old daughter Mia, who requires around-the-clock care as a non-verbal and medically fragile child.

Over the past few weeks, “one more thing” involved diving head-first into advocacy after finding out the Ottawa Catholic School Board was slashing the bus attendant program that Mia relies on to get to and from school safely.

So, when school board trustees voted on Tuesday night to reverse the decision and to reinstate the school bus attendant program, Jollymore didn’t know whether to laugh, clap or cry happy tears.

For once the family had one less thing to worry about.

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“We just want to focus on the summer to be able to try to keep (Mia) healthy, keep her safe, keep her happy and just be able to now look towards the summer and not have to spend it worrying about how we’re going to get her to and from school safely,” Jollymore said.

Mia’s school bus attendant is a vital part of her support system on her rides to and from St. Francis of Assisi School in Orléans. Since she’s at risk of seizures, aspiration and other medical complications, it’s a life-saving measure to have an attendant at her side who is trained to look after her.

When they and other parents learned on June 5 that the attendants would be eliminated, with caretaking responsibilities shifted to bus drivers, Jollymore and McPhail joined the many other families across the city in sounding the alarm about the imminent dangers from those proposed cuts.

With bus drivers already focused on the roads, many parents were concerned their children wouldn’t have access to proper care in case of medical emergencies.

Nearly three weeks after the initial decision, the school board said it had heard parents’ concerns, with trustees voting unanimously to rescind the decision to slash the program.

“Over the past several weeks, trustees have listened carefully to families and heard directly from those most affected by this decision,” board chair Mark Mullan wrote in a news release.

“Parents and caregivers spoke passionately about the difference these supports make in the lives of their children. We listened, we reflected, and we unanimously agreed that continuing bus attendant services is the right decision.”

Prior to the reinstatement of the program, her parents were grappling with how they’d find the time in their day to drive Mia to and from school every day rather than putting her on a bus they believed would be unsafe, their next “one more thing.”

“I just hope everybody learned from this and we can grow to rebuild that trust because, unfortunately, our trust has been tarnished with this decision they made with less than 14 days left of the school year,” Jollymore said.

The OCSB said that going forward it would continue support for eligible students, work with transportation providers to ensure consistent service and review strategies to ensure the program could continue in the long-term.

Jollymore is confident Mia is also thrilled she’ll get to keep riding the bus, even if she doesn’t have the words to express it herself. For the six-year-old, it means she’ll continue to enjoy one of her favourite parts of her day.

“She loves the bus because her bus driver and bus attendant are amazing. They put on little kid nursery rhyme music and she starts dancing as soon as she sees the bus pull up,” Jollymore said.

“It’s not about me; it’s about my daughter just living her best life.”

 

 

 Toronto Star June 25, 2026

 

Originally posted at https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/these-toronto-students-are-getting-kicked-out-of-their-school-they-finally-found-out-where-theyll-be-going/article_241d054e-7d51-4026-880f-70f212bf8214.html

 

These Toronto students are getting kicked out of their school. They finally found out where they’ll be going

Students at Heydon Park Secondary, which serves girls with special needs, will relocate in January. But parents fear for the school’s future.

 

Parents and students from Toronto’s Heydon Park Secondary School are upset the board plans to relocate it. It is the TDSB’s only school for girls, including trans and non-binary students.

 

Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star

By Isabel TeotonioEducation Reporter

 

Students at Heydon Park Secondary School will relocate to the former Vaughan Road Academy site, a move that parents are reluctantly willing to accept, while calling on the board to reopen admissions and guarantee the school’s long-term survival.

In a notice to the school community of Heydon Park, which serves special-needs girls, the Toronto District School Board said the chosen site “provides an array of amenities conducive to offering secondary school programming.”

“TDSB recognizes that a relocation can be challenging, and we will do everything we can to make the transition as easy as possible,” reads the community bulletin sent on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, the downtown school community was blindsided in learning the TDSB plans to relocate its roughly 130 students in January. The move clears the way for the site to be used by nearby Orde Street Public School, which has about 400 students.

The Orde elementary students must vacate their own building because of safety concerns stemming from the construction of a 60-storey tower next to the school’s outdoor play area.

News of the forced relocation delivered a blow to families of Heydon Park, who are still upset by the board’s decision last year to halt admissions. Citing low enrolment, the TDSB will no longer accept students for grades 9 and 10 at Heydon Park and Eastdale Collegiate — a decision that has left parents worried the board is planning to phase out these two high schools, both of which serve students with special education needs.

“We want guarantees that the program will be allowed to flourish,” says Kamala Kalsi, co-chair of Heydon Park’s parent council.

“If you’re going to move us from our cozy little downtown school to a larger, less centralized campus, then give us the tools, resources and commitments to grow into the building over the long term.”

In a statement on behalf of the parent community, Kalsi said the fact that the relocation dovetails with ongoing decisions the TDSB has made about current and future enrolment at Heydon Park may be coincidental, “but our collective desire to have questions about the future of the school be answered can not be ignored.”

“We feel like we’re being moved into a giant space, one designed for a far larger school than ours, only for it to be used as justification to phase out the program on a timeframe that doesn’t jibe with the non-linear nature of how our kids learn.”

At a virtual meeting last week about the relocation, with TDSB senior staff fielding questions from the school community, parents asked that admissions for grades 9 and 10 be reopened at the Vaughan Road Academy site. Many spoke of how girls from across the city would benefit from Heydon Park — it serves a vulnerable population — but said the TDSB does a poor job of promoting it.

Jack Nigro, executive superintendent of Learning Centre 1, said decisions about enrolment are “a year-by-year consideration. And it depends on those who express interest in Heydon Park … That’s how these decisions have been made up until this year.”

Daniel Castaldo, the senior business officer for strategy and planning, explained that staff made the decision to relocate Orde out of “an abundance of caution.” The key criteria when looking for a space that could accommodate Orde during the construction were proximity, space and keeping all students together, he said, noting “the Heydon Park building, really, was the only feasible option.”

Heydon Park and Orde are both in the Grange Park neighbourhood, about 700 metres apart. Under the board’s plan, Heydon Park will vacate its building in January 2027, giving the TDSB time to renovate before Orde students arrive in September 2027. Heydon Park will then move north to the midtown area.

TDSB staff said two sites for Heydon Park’s relocation were considered: the former Rockcliffe Middle School site and the former Vaughan Road Academy, both of which can be used when schools need to temporarily relocate. Staff said parent representatives had visited both sites and preferred the latter, which is located on Vaughan Road near Oakwood Avenue. It is a large high school building, is more centrally located with better transit access, and has an auditorium, kitchen, pool, and multiple gyms.

Staff assured parents that Heydon Park’s specialized programs, such as culinary arts and cosmetology, and supports for students will be maintained. And that all necessary accessibility features will be in place before the relocation.

Parents also expressed concerns about the tight timeline and the mid-year move during the winter, with one mother saying it “puts our students at a huge disadvantage because these are students who have really big issues with transitioning.”

“I don’t feel like the board has really considered the needs of our students,” she said. “We’re asking the board to make this as equitable for all students involved and not have our students get the short end of the stick.”

 

Isabel Teotonio is a Toronto-based reporter covering education for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @Izzy74.