AODA Alliance
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update
United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities
Website: www.aodaalliance.org
Email: aodafeedback@gmail.com
Twitter: @aodaalliance
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/aodaalliance
A Troubling Step Backwards at TDSB for Students with Disabilities
September 16, 2025
SUMMARY
An important article in “Toronto Today” describes the negative impact of the Ford Government’s takeover of four Ontario school boards on students with disabilities. Read that article below. It focuses on how an important decision by the TDSB’s trustees at their last board meeting in June, which aligned with the TDSB’s Special Education Advisory Committee, was overturned in July by TDSB’s provincially appointed Supervisor.
Beyond this incident, there is a huge potential impact on students with disabilities that will be caused by the Ontario Government’s taking over four Ontario school boards, including that the Toronto District School Board Elected trustees are ousted entirely from their positions at a public school board. At Catholic school boards which the Government took over, the trustees remain in office, but can only deal with religious issues.
Here is a list of what students with disabilities have lost:
- Parents of students with disabilities, like all parents, had been able to directly raise issues with trustees by phoning or emailing them. The Ontario Government requires each school board to have in place a formal (though inadequate) way to raise specific concerns about their child’s education, including disability concerns, called a “Concerned Parents Protocol.” The parent is advised to go up the organizational ladder within the school board. They are told to raise their concerns first with the teacher, then the principal, after that the superintendent and, if all else fail, the trustee. The trustee could try to help the parents navigate a bewildering system and broker a solution to unsolved problems.
- Parents could make public presentations to meetings of the entire board of trustees or of committees of the board. These could raise disability issues within the school board. They could also get public and media attention, their meetings being live streamed and archived on the internet.
- If the school board excluded a student from school under The Education Act, which disproportionately happens to students with disabilities, the parents can appeal this refusal to admit their child to school. This appeal goes to the board of trustees.
- Many parents of students with disabilities don’t know what their school board has available for students with disabilities and how to access supports and services. The elected trustees can be approached for help with this.
- Trustees regularly hold public forums and meetings in their electoral riding or ward. This gives parents of students with disabilities a chance to approach them in person to seek help, and to learn from them about how to navigate within the school board.
- Each school board is required to have a Special Education Advisory Committee. Ontario regulations provide that its membership is to include some elected school board trustees. These trustees can serve in practice as advocates at the meetings of all trustees in support of the needs of students with disabilities/special education needs.
The Ontario Government has recently notified school boards that if a parent wishes to raise a problem with the school board through its “Concerned Parents Protocol” instead of escalating the problem to the elected trustee at the final step, they should email the provincially appointed Supervisor in those boards which the Ontario Government has taken over. Yet these temporary Supervisors have no process in place to fairly and effectively deal with such complaints. If they were simply to refer a parent back to the principal or superintendent, that would waste everyone’s time with a final stage in the process that would add nothing for parents.
The Ford Government is actively considering abolishing elected school boards across the province. We alert one and all to chime in on this. There is a real risk that this will work to the serious disadvantage of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable, under-served students with disabilities in Ontario’s schools.
That is not to say that the status quo is the best arrangement. There is a pressing need to strengthen the direct and public oversight of school board staff by elected trustees. It has been dramatically weakened in recent years.
People will be watching closely as provincially appointed Supervisors run four Ontario school boards. Will it make things better or worse for underserved students with disabilities? Will provincial Supervisors rubber stamp what senior school board staff propose, as elected trustees too often did?
This could well be a glimpse into what all school boards will experience, depending on the Ford Government’s plans. People with disabilities and their allies should be directly consulted before the Ontario Government makes any final decisions.
How You Can Help
- Read the July column by AODA Alliance Chair David Lepofsky in the Toronto Star’s Metroland publications.
- Alert parents of students with disabilities of this important concern.
- Write letters to the editor about this issue. The media is giving extensive coverage to the Ford Government’s as-yet unrevealed plans for the future of Ontario’s school boards.
- Learn about the AODA Alliance’s battle for over a decade and a half to tear down disability barriers in Ontario’s education system. Visit the AODA Alliance website’s education page.
Send us your feedback. Write us at aodafeedback@gmail.com
MORE DETAILS
Toronto Today September 11, 2025
Originally posted at Skip to content
TDSB supervisor’s decisions ‘undemocratic’: parents –
Parents, trustees slam TDSB supervisor’s decisions as ‘Trumpian,’ ‘undemocratic’
Rohit Gupta is being criticized for a lack of consultation or explanation of recent decisions to increase special education class sizes and reverse school name changes — though his methods have some supporters
Gabe Oatley
TDSB trustee Alexis Dawson in Toronto on July 10, 2025. Dawson said the TDSB’s new supervisor is making decisions in a manner that lacks transparency. Gabe Oatley/TorontoToday
Some parents, trustees and community advocates are slamming the first set of decisions made by the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) new supervisor as “undemocratic.”
Yesterday, TorontoToday reported that in his first decisions as the TDSB’s new provincially-imposed supervisor, Rohit Gupta rescinded the re-naming of three schools and approved an increase in class sizes for some specialized programs for students with disabilities — which had earlier been voted down by trustees.
But while trustees’ decisions usually involve extensive discussions and public documentation, only a short summary of Gupta’s first decisions as supervisor — which were made in July — have been published to the TDSB’s website.
On Thursday, several members of the TDSB community blasted Gupta for making those decisions “behind closed doors” and providing no rationale for his choice to overturn trustee’s votes.
“This is a very Trumpian move,” said Sandra Huh, a parent with a child in the TDSB who has special needs. “It’s [like] ‘I know best … I know what I’m doing.’”
She said Gupta’s approach is particularly concerning as he does not appear to have any background in education. The new TDSB supervisor is a former senior staffer with Scotia Capital and previous Metrolinx advisor.
No meetings, no explanation
David Lepofsky, chair of the board’s Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) also expressed concern for how Gupta went about deciding to allow larger class sizes in specialized programs for disabled students.
Normally, when decisions about special education policy are made by trustees, SEAC has a chance to provide input. Lepofsky often speaks to trustees at their committee meetings, summarizing the perspectives of SEAC members, who represent families with autistic children, kids with developmental disabilities and other disabled students.
But Lepofsky said in a recent SEAC summary report that the committee had no chance to be heard by the supervisor before his class size decision was reached. “I am very disturbed by this,” he said.
Lepofsky said he wrote to the supervisor the day after he was appointed, offering to work together. But while Gupta responded shortly thereafter, saying he’d be in touch once he was briefed by staff, Lepofsky told TorontoToday it was weeks before he reached out again. The pair met for the first time on Wednesday, Lepofsky said.
As previously reported by TorontoToday, many parents and educators have expressed that an increase in the size of special education classes could result in more injuries to children and teachers.
TDSB trustee Alexis Dawson also said the way Gupta approached the school name change decision was a “slap in the face” to Indigenous community members who participated in the board’s prior process.
Dawson said the decision to change the names of three schools — Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute, Ryerson Community School and Dundas Junior Public School — was made by trustees after years of consideration. The process included the input of a community advisory body and the receipt of letters from concerned parties.
She said Gupta’s recent decision does not appear to have involved public input.
Carl James, a York University professor of education who served on the TDSB’s name change committee, said while there are a variety of opinions on the issue, it would have been “respectful” for Gupta to have provided the rationale for his choice.
TorontoToday tried to reach Gupta to ask about the rationale behind his decisions, but only received a response from a TDSB spokesperson, redirecting those questions to the Ministry of Education.
However, the Ministry of Education did not respond to questions from TorontoToday prior to publication.
Others unconcerned with supervisor’s approach
Yet not all agree the new supervisor’s approach has been misguided.
Daniel Tate, the founder of advocacy group IntegrityTO who launched a petition last winter opposing school name changes, said it was appropriate for Gupta to exercise “executive authority” on the matter, given the trustee’s recent focus on “ideological projects,” like name changes.
“Sometimes you just need the adults to come into the room and start taking care of business,” he said. “There just has to be somebody to come in swiftly to clean up house.”
Jennifer Dundas, the chairperson of the Henry Dundas Committee of Ontario and a distant relative of Dundas, said she also was relieved by the supervisor’s decision on school name changes, and did not see anything wrong with his process.
In a written statement to TorontoToday, Dundas argued that the name change process trustees used was not much more democratic than Guptas’, as she said community members had been caught off guard by inclusion of the school name change issue on the board agenda last winter.
TDSB trustee Patrick Nunziata also alleged there are weaknesses in the board’s typical consultation process.
“I wish I could say consultation was meaningful before supervision, but it was just lip service. The majority of TDSB trustees would move to have their way regardless of parent voice,” he said.
Nunziata also argued some trustees used whatever input was provided to make the case for the perspective they already believed in.
“Staff and trustees already knew where they wanted to go with policy decisions and would interpret data [and] feedback in a way that suit[ed] those goals.”
A preview of what’s to come?
However, those who have expressed concerns about the changes to how the school board operates are also worried those changes will become permanent.
TDSB trustee Matias de Dovitiis said he believes Gupta’s approach to his two most recent decisions is a preview of the norm if the government decides to do away with trustees altogether.
The province’s decision to appoint a supervisor took decision-making power away from the elected board of trustees. In recent days, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the government is considering making that set up permanent by eliminating trustees, and will reach a decision by the end of the year.
De Dovitiis argued it would be a step in the wrong direction.
“There should still be committee meetings. There should still be a process for communities to participate,” he said. “I don’t have to agree with 100 per cent of the decision a board makes, but there’s a process that at least gives recourse and space for explanation.”
“This is a terribly undemocratic move that lacks transparency and accountability,” he said.
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CORRECTION: A prior version of this story incorrectly stated York University professor Carl James’ faculty affiliation.
An earlier version of this story also said supervisor Rohit Gupta did not contact David Lepofsky beyond initial acknowledgement that he would be in touch. In fact, Gupta and Lepofsky met for the first time on Sept. 10, 2025.