News Reports Amplify the “Better Call Paul” Campaign and Our Concerns About the Ford Government’s Reaction to It

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

 

News Reports Amplify the “Better Call Paul” Campaign and Our Concerns About the Ford Government’s Reaction to It

 

November 15, 2025

SUMMARY

 

From news reports, it is now clear that the Ford Government’s November 13, 2025 announcement of new “Student and Family Support Offices” at Ontario school boards lacks the essential requirements to make them effective for over one third of a million students with disabilities/special education needs. This is clear in light of Education Minister Paul Calandra’s statements, as reported in the November 13, 2025 Toronto Star report which is set out below.

 

  • The Ford Government allocated no public money to fund the creation of these offices. Thus, funds must be diverted from elsewhere at school boards, including the five boards which the Ford Government seized control over, due to their being over budget.

 

  • There is no provincial commitment that the people staffing these offices and taking calls from parents will have any expertise in how to effectively educate students with disabilities, how to mediate resolution to problems within the board, and how to remove festering and recurring disability barriers to equal education.

 

  • There is no provincial commitment that the people taking these calls will have any authority to solve problems. They may turn out to be mere polite customer service call-takers who just pass on to parents the same bureaucratic responses that parents of students with disabilities have too often already gotten from the school board.

 

  • There is nothing in this announcement that creates a dedicated and specialized system for parents of students with disabilities/special education needs. Instead, they will continue to be mixed in with calls from all parents. This would place a complaint that a child with no disabilities did not make a desired volleyball team in the same line as a complaint that a school endangered the safety of a child with a disability by placing them in an isolation room with no staff to monitor them, and without the parent’s support.

 

It is quite possible that the new TDSB Student and Family Support Office will be nothing more than a fresh coat of paint on what is being provided right now. The Toronto Star article, set out below, states that this new office will be staffed by the existing TDSB staff who used to support elected school trustees. It states: “Calandra told the Star that boards will be redeploying existing staff to run the offices — in the supervised boards, that will be trustee services workers.”

 

We have heard that those very staff have already been redeployed some weeks ago to work for the provincially-appointed Supervisor. They are already taking calls from parents regarding their complaints. If so, then this may be a case of the Ford Government wrapping up a pair of musty old shoes as this year’s new Christmas present.

 

If these Student and Family Support Offices turn out to be helpful, that would be a good step forward, but it is not a replacement for also having elected trustees at the local level, with effective authority to manage their school board. It is not a case of needing one or the other. If a physician says you must take two medications to cure a life-threatening disease, it is of little help if the Ministry of Health will only let you take one of them, and not both.

 

It is vital for the Ford Government to hold off making any major decisions over how the education system will be governed until it holds a broad, open, accessible and inclusive public consultation. It’s plan to rush Bill 33 through the Legislature without holding any public hearings signals to Ontarians that they may not get the say to which they are entitled.

 

When disability advocates and other parents of students with disabilities raise concerns like these, the Ford Government automatically answers by boasting about how much money it spends on special education. This is no answer to the recurring systemic disability barriers at school boards. That is so especially when the Ford Government has failed to enact the much needed Education Accessibility Standard under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act which was recommended to it in a detailed report it received almost four years ago, written by a Government-appointed panel of experts.

 

In addition to the November 13, 2025 Toronto Star report, you can also read below the November 14, 2025 report on this by the Press Progress publication. As well, the CityNews 24/7 channel ran items on this during the day on November 14, 2025, such as one you can watch at this link.

For More Background

Check out:

 

How You Can Help

  • Download, print, and widely distribute our 1-page “Better Call Paul” brochure! It is available at this link. Encourage others to do that too!
  • We need our “”better Call Paul” campaign more than ever! If your child is facing disability challenges at school, call Education Minister Paul Calandra! Join the “Better Call Paul” campaign. Ask him to direct your school board to fix your child’s disability barriers and problems. Call 416 325-2600 or email edu@ontario.ca
  • Let us know what you do! Email us at aodafeedback@gmail.com

 

MORE DETAILS

Toronto Star November 13, 2025

Originally posted at https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/ford-government-orders-new-parent-support-offices-for-ontario-school-boards-raising-questions-about-future/article_c327c7f6-ad13-4a1a-bd38-b2de37ae2858.html

 

Ford government orders new parent ‘support offices’ for Ontario school boards, raising questions about future of trustees

The new offices will open this January in the Toronto public and Catholic boards and the three other boards under provincial supervision.

 

Education Minister Paul Calandra said “Student and Family Support Offices will give families clear answers and timely solutions when it comes to their child’s education.”

 

By Kristin Rushowy Senior Writer

 

Every Ontario school board will open a “student and family support office” by next fall that will be expected to respond to parents’ questions and concerns within five days— a move critics called “window dressing” that just adds another layer of bureaucracy.

The offices will open in January in the Toronto public and Catholic boards, as well as the three others currently under provincial supervision, and the remainder of Ontario boards next September, the province announced Thursday.

From simple requests to more complex ones such as dealing with bullying that can’t be resolved at the school level, Education Minister Paul Calandra said the office will deal with the questions, concerns and frustrations that parents have.

 

“It’s just a way for people to get answers — simple answers, basic answers — and escalate where need be,” Calandra told the Star.

For more complex issues, parents will still be approaching teachers, principals and superintendents first and “hopefully it’s resolved quickly there. But where it’s not, it needs more, somebody will be able to call the office. A file will be open. They’ll have a point of contact where they can continue to get information from. They’ll know the progress, who they’re speaking with, what actions have been taken.”

While Calandra said the office has been in the works since he was appointed education minister eight months ago, it also comes as he has talked of school board governance changes, including possibly eliminating the position of trustee, though he said the two aren’t related.

Critics said such offices can’t replace elected officials — and given that the offices will be headed by a superintendent, “it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to have this additional layer of oversight,” said Kevin Morrison, vice-chair of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, which is now being run by a provincial supervisor.

“A superintendent is someone within the system, which is what parents are already dealing with when they are escalating their concerns,” he added.

And families should have been consulted on such a “consequential change,” added Toronto District School Board parent Katrina Matheson.

“What our system suffered from under trustees was lack of funding responsiveness at the provincial level, and disregard of their resolutions by staff at the board level,” she said. “Are these offices being organized to have more authority and autonomy than trustees? More specifically — will these offices have the ability to release emergency funding to solve urgent concerns” such as understaffing?

And, she added, “where do parents turn if the offices are ineffective at solving problems?”

Calandra told the Star that boards will be redeploying existing staff to run the offices — in the supervised boards, that will be trustee services workers.

The offices will be one-stop shops for parents to turn to for any type of issue — even for minor queries such as how to download report cards — helping to ease administrative burdens on schools, he said.

The offices will have to acknowledge parent requests within two days, and aim to respond in five.

Non-supervised boards will have to submit plans to the ministry by the end of March, and open the offices in September.

The offices are also going to keep data on parent requests to help boards inform the services they provide.

Martha Hradowy, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, said the union was not consulted on the change either.

“Where is the money coming from to support these offices? Minister Calandra has repeatedly talked about redirecting money back into the classrooms. How does this layer of bureaucracy help get that funding back into the classrooms?”

David Lepofsky, who chairs the special education advisory committee at the Toronto public board, said what’s needed is a “specific, specialized avenue for dispute resolution” for parents of children with special needs.

“There’s nothing in this announcing that — nor is there anything in this announcing any funding for this,” he said, adding he’s been part of a group advocating that under supervision, parents “better call Paul” for answers — a play on the name of a television show.

The NDP’s education critic, MPP Chandra Pasma, called the offices “window dressing” and accused Calandra of “throwing out half-baked ideas.”

Ontario will be the only province with such offices, said Alan Campbell of the Canadian School Boards’ Association, who said the announcement “smacks of government waste in the name of continuing to overstep its authority and centralize decision-making.”

The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association president, Kathleen Woodcock, said it welcomes “any effort that helps students and their families feel heard and supported in their schools,” but noted “every school board (already) has clear processes and protocols in place to help parents and students resolve issues.”

Calandra also told the Star he is still working on plans to reform school board governance, and that his goal is to have an announcement by the end of this year — and that eliminating trustees is “absolutely on the table.”

However, he said wants to ensure any changes are compliant with the Charter and the Constitution and if he needs more time he will announce that by year’s end.

 

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based senior writer covering education for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy.

 

Press Progress November 14, 2025

Originally posted at https://pressprogress.ca/better-call-paul-disability-advocates-reject-fords-move-to-control-school-boards/

 

‘Better Call Paul’: Disability Advocates Reject Ford’s Move to Control School Boards

Advocates say the province is making decisions that affect the day-to-day lives of students with disabilities

 

by Eric Wickham, Ontario Reporter

 

Just days after disability advocates launched a campaign criticizing the province for fewer supports for disabled students, they are pushing back on a new provincial announcement that may lead parents of disabled children to lose a direct forum to voice their concerns

Disability advocates in Ontario have been drawing attention to a potential for fewer supports for disabled students, after the Ford government took control of five school boards by removing their elected trustees this past summer.

School board trustees are elected representatives meant to advocate on behalf of the public in a school board.

Disability advocates expressed concern about losing access to a publicly accountable representative during a press conference Monday.

“Trustees routinely held public ward meetings where you could raise your concerns or you could call the trustee directly,” said David Lepofsky, chair of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Alliance [AODA]. “There were certainly problems with the existing system that could benefit from reform, but heck, mend it, don’t end it.”

He added that this system has been abolished in the five school boards, and in place of a trustee, they’ve been given an email address to write to a provincially-appointed supervisor.

Since the press conference, the Ontario government has announced that it is launching new Student and Family Support Offices at every school board in the province. According to the Ministry of Education, these offices are meant to review concerns raised by families to help resolve issues that “need to be escalated following initial engagement with a child’s teacher and principal.”

The announcement also said that the ministry would “continue overhauling an outdated school board governance model.”

Lepofsky said in the press conference that the province is now making decisions that affect the day-to-day lives of students with disabilities. This includes deciding to increase class sizes for special education students — meaning less one-on-one time for the kids who need it most.

The group joined many students, parents, and unions in opposing the Ford government’s proposed Bill 33 which, if passed, would allow the province to seize control of all school boards, eliminating the role of trustees altogether.

The five school boards taken over by the province, Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, Thames Valley District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Toronto District School Board will have these offices open in January next year. All other school boards are expected to have these offices established by September 1.

According to the AODA Alliance, the province’s announcement does not commit any provincial funding to establishing these offices. Advocates say additional funding for these offices is needed to ensure that underfunded special education programs aren’t gutted to finance these offices.

Bruce McIntosh from the Ontario Autism Coalition spoke at the press conference Monday, and called for parents to directly contact the province’s education minister, Paul Calandra, to express their frustration every time one of the five schools now controlled by the province doesn’t meet their disabled child’s needs.

“Have you asked for your child to have a special needs assistant to make sure they’re safe throughout the school day, but the school said no because they don’t have enough staff? Better call Paul,” said McIntosh.

“Did you find out to your horror that the school put your child in a padded isolation room without your consent, without staff monitoring their safety? You better call Paul.”

PressProgress reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment, but did not receive a response.

 

Eric Wickham is PressProgress’ Ontario reporter