Still More Media Coverage Blasting Education Minister’s Banning School Boards Under Provincial Supervision from Live Streaming Special Education Advisory Committee Meetings

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act Alliance Update

United for a Barrier-Free Ontario for All People with Disabilities

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Still More Media Coverage Blasting Education Minister’s Banning School Boards Under Provincial Supervision from Live Streaming Special Education Advisory Committee Meetings

 

October 11, 2025

 

SUMMARY

 

There has been yet more media coverage of the Ford Government’s controversial decision ordering the five school boards under direct provincial supervision not to live stream meetings of any school board committees, most notably their Special Education Advisory Committee. This topic was earlier addressed in the October 8, 2025 AODA Alliance Update and the October 10, 2025 AODA Alliance Update.

 

This coverage includes:

 

Here are some key points in these reports:

 

  • Education Minister Paul Calandra told City News that he’s prepared to reconsider his orders to the five school boards under direct provincial supervision. We would applaud if the minister were to lift this ban. We wait with anticipation.

 

  • Although the Ontario Government directed these school boards that the boards must not themselves live stream the meetings, the Ontario Autism Coalition has sent representatives to the Special Education Advisory Committee meetings this week in Toronto and Ottawa who did live stream them. At the TDSB Special Education Advisory Committee, this took place without a hitch. At the Ottawa Carleton District School Board’s SEAC, the meeting was held up for half an hour while board staff tried to figure out what to do.

 

  • The Ontario Autism Coalition has announced that it plans to live stream each Special Education Advisory Committee meeting at school boards under provincial supervision as long as this is needed. The Ottawa Citizen article, set out below, reports on this. This further shows that the Education Minister’s ban is pointless and should be withdrawn.

 

  • These reports combined with media reports in this week’s two earlier AODA Alliance Updates make it clear that this controversy comes from the Ford Government’s Education Minister himself, Paul Calandra. He was the one who made this decision and the one who will reconsider whether to withdraw it. This illustrates the problem that can take place when a single provincial politician takes over the role of micro-managing school boards. It should signal to the public what will be in store if that minister takes over all the school boards in Ontario that teach two million K-12 students, and all elected school board trustees across the province are ousted.

 

  • It is very important that the media have been pressing Premier Ford and the Education Minister on this issue. The more they have been asked, the more reasons these politicians have come up with for banning live streaming. None of their reasons make any sense. It looks more and more like the political staff in the Minister’s Office are scrambling after the fact to conjure up some sort of justification for an ill-considered decision and making up a series of reasons as they go along.

 

To recap earlier coverage and add the more recent reports, the Government’s evolving explanations for this ban and our response to these have included:

 

Ford Government: SEAC meetings are open for the public to attend.

AODA Alliance response: Most parents are busy feeding their kids and putting them to bed and cannot attend SEAC meetings in person. In any event, the fact that these meetings are open to the public is a good reason to live stream them. It is not a reason to refuse to live stream them.

 

Ford Government: The public can read the publicly posted meeting agendas and minutes.

AODA Alliance response: These agendas and minutes leave out the vast majority of what is said at these meetings. Minutes are usually not posted until a month after the meeting.

 

Ford Government: It is necessary to turn down the temperature at these meetings.

AODA Alliance response: There is no need to turn down the temperature at these meetings. The Government hasn’t shown from the archived videos of past SEAC meetings that there is any need to turn down the temperature. There is no indication that the Minister has ever been to one of these meetings to see what happens there.

 

Ford Government: SEAC meetings should focus only on advancing student achievement.

AODA Alliance response: The only focus of SEAC meetings IS to make things better at school for students with disabilities/special education needs.

 

Ford Government: SEACs should not be a place for “political commentary.”

AODA Alliance response: In a democracy, it is not the government’s role to decide what people talk about. Advocating for students with disabilities/special education needs may well be considered “political commentary” to some. The real worry here is that the Ford Government wants to contain any possible criticism of what is going on in the classroom now that it is the Ford Government that has sole responsibility for the operation of the schools at the five school boards that they took over.

 

Ford Government: This restriction is needed to protect privacy of students.

AODA Alliance response: Using the TDSB SEAC as an illustration, the Committee meetings carefully avoid anything that could impinge on privacy, as do school board staff. Parents of students with disabilities/special education needs are keenly aware of the need to protect student privacy.

 

Ford Government: It would be inappropriate for people who don’t have children with disabilities/special education needs to watch a live stream of a SEAC meeting.

AODA Alliance response: Anyone can attend a public SEAC meeting, including people who don’t have children with disabilities/special education needs. Moreover, it is beneficial to for those who don’t have children with disabilities/special education needs to watch SEAC meetings, if they wish. It helps educate the broader public about these students’ needs and what school boards are doing or not doing to meet those needs.

 

The public generally has an interest in ensuring that all students are effectively served in schools.

 

How You Can Help

 

  • Urge your local media to cover this issue and to ask tough questions of the Ford Government. This controversy will very likely spread to all school boards if the Ford Government decides to take over direct control of all school boards, eliminating all elected school board trustees.

 

  • Learn all about the AODA Alliance’s advocacy efforts on behalf of students with disabilities Take a look at the AODA Alliance website’s education page.

 

  • Remember to listen to our new podcast: “Disability Rights and Wrongs – The David Lepodcast” which is available on Apple Music, Spotify and wherever else you get your podcasts!

 

 

 

MORE DETAILS

 

 Ottawa Citizen October 11, 2025

 

Originally posted at https://ottawacitizen.com/news/live-streaming-school-board-committees

 

Live-streaming controversy sparks debate over access to school board special-education committee meetings

Advocates for children with disabilities say denying real-time electronic access to Special Education Advisory Committee is ‘undemocratic.’

 

By Joanne Laucius

 

Cathy Varrette Live-Streaming SEAC Meeting

Parent Cathy Varrette caused a temporary halt to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Special Education Access Committee meeting because she was live-streaming the proceedings with her smartphone. She was eventually allowed to continue. Photo by JULIE OLIVER /POSTMEDIA

 

The question of whether or not parents can live-stream the proceedings of a school board committee is raising questions about public access to the decision-making process.

 

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Alliance, a disability advocacy group, has charged that Education Minister Paul Calandra banned school boards under supervision from live-streaming their Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC) meetings in a “troubling and undemocratic move.”

 

At the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, a SEAC meeting was halted temporarily on Oct. 8 after a school board employee found that a parent, Cathy Varrette, was live-streaming it using her smartphone.

 

Board staff withdrew to discuss the matter. Varrette was not prevented from recording and live-streamed the entire meeting.

 

Varrette, who has a son with autism, often watches the SEAC live-stream from home so she can help her son get ready for bed while also learning about issues affected students with disabilities. On the night of Oct. 8, she attended the meeting in person. Varrette said her phone was propped up in plain sight. She later posted the recording to YouTube.

 

Following SEAC meetings from home is crucial to parents who juggle care for a child with complex needs with keeping on top of potential changes to special education, Varrette said. That’s particularly important to parents after 39 specialized OCDSB classes were on the chopping block earlier this year, she added.

 

“I’m concerned that, although nothing happened at this meeting, cuts will happen and I won’t be able to participate,” she said.

 

More than half of the hospitals across the eastern region of Ontario are projecting deficits this year, documents show. The overall Ontario hospital deficit for 2024-25 was $360 million.

School boards under provincial supervision, including the OCDSB, no longer hold meetings of their boards of trustees. However, several committees, including SEACs, are mandated under Ontario’s Education Act.

 

SEAC meetings are a lot of inside baseball. They attract only a handful of people and receive little public attention. But the meetings let parents know about the politics of what’s going on and how to navigate the system for their children, Varrette said.

 

“I believe hard cuts are coming for special education. I want to be in a better situation to advocate,” she said.

 

David Lepovsky, chair of AODA Alliance and SEAC chair at the Toronto District School Board, said Calandra had claimed he put school boards under supervision over issues of finances.

 

“Live-streaming doesn’t cost a penny. It’s just a matter of throwing a switch,” Lepovsky said.

 

“This is a slap in the face to parents of children with disabilities and the children. These are people who live under a lot of stress. From 7 to 9 at night, these parents are busy. What kind of cold-heartedness can lead to this kind of decision?”

 

Many parents of children with disabilities lead isolated lives. Watching these meetings lets them know they’re not alone, Lepovsky said.

 

“It’s an emotional lifeline.”

 

In recent years, the OCDSB has live-streamed SEAC meetings. The question is whether a member of the public like Varrette can step in and do it. The Ontario Autism Coalition has decided to live-stream future SEAC meetings at all the school boards under supervision.

 

In a statement, the OCDSB said all committee meetings remained open to the public.

 

“Committee members and delegates can still participate remotely when necessary and all are welcome to attend in person,” a spokesperson said. “Minutes, agendas, and decisions from all committees are also posted publicly to ensure transparency and accessibility for families and the broader community.”

 

However, the OCDSB not respond to questions about live-streaming.

 

Calandra’s office also did not address questions about whether the Ministry of Education had “banned” live-streaming for school boards under supervision, as the OADA Alliance charged.

 

Paul Calandra Education Minister

Education Minister Paul Calandra is seen here in a file photo during Question Period in the Ontario Legislature in May. Photo by COLE BURSTON /THE CANADIAN PRESS

“While under supervision, the number one priority of my ministry supervisors is to enhance student success where trustees have failed,” Calandra said in a statement.

 

“I made this decision to maintain meetings that are productive, professional and focused on improving student success and achievement, rather than serving as a forum for political commentary. At the same time, I ordered all meetings to remain open to the public with hybrid participation options with public posting of agendas, minutes, and decisions,” he said.

 

“To be clear I will be relentless in fighting for students, parents and teachers and focused on improving student achievement. Even when others fight to defend a system that has failed our students and teachers.”

 

Anthony Wong, a parent and member of SEAC, said it was important that SEAC meetings be live-streamed and that captioned recordings remained publicly available afterward.

 

“SEAC exists to give families of students with special education needs a genuine voice, yet many of those families simply can’t attend in person because of disability, caregiving responsibilities, or health reasons,” Wong said. “Accessibility should never depend on who’s able to drive downtown on a weekday evening.”

 

For many families, advocates and members of the community, live-streams and recordings are not optional conveniences, but the only means of participation, he said.

 

“Live access and captioned recordings ensure that families can follow the issues, understand the discussions, and see how decisions are made. Without them, the very people SEAC is meant to represent are excluded,” Wong said. “Accessibility, transparency, and inclusion are not abstract principles — they are the foundation of public trust and effective governance.”

 

Legally and historically, Ontario school boards have recognized that SEAC meetings are open by law and public by purpose, Wong said.

 

Section 207 of the Education Act makes committee meetings open to the public except for limited in camera matters, he said. Regulation 463/97 requires every school board to maintain an electronic-meeting policy that allows the public to observe proceedings — a practice reinforced during the COVID-19 pandemic, when live-streaming became the province-wide standard for transparency and accessibility.

 

Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and its Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation, school boards must provide information and communications in accessible formats on demand and ensure that posted web content — including recordings of meeting — meets accessibility standards such as captioning, Wong said.

 

“These are enforceable obligations, not symbolic gestures. Ultimately, maintaining live-streamed and captioned SEAC meetings is both a legal duty and a moral responsibility,” he said.

 

“It’s how the board demonstrates its commitment to openness, equity and respect for the families it serves. When SEAC remains visible, accessible, and inclusive, it fulfills the very spirit of why it exists in the first place.”

 

Calandra has mused that he might eliminate Ontario’s English-language school board trustees.

 

“These kinds of events foreshadow what might happen if the province decides to run school boards,” Lepofsky said.