Ontario Ombudsman Will Now Accept Complaints Against School Boards

For those like me who were a little sketchy on what the Ombudsman does, it's an office which investigates claims against provincial government agencies.  People are supposed to contact them if they've exhausted all other routes of getting their grievances settled.  However, for some reason, they were not legally able to investigate any claims about local Ontario school boards, until a few days ago.

The Ottawa Citizen announced that as of September 1st, the Ontario Ombudsman will accept complaints against the school boards.  The article does not say anything specifically about refusal to accommodate special needs students, but I would certainly think that would fall under the "last resort" category.  I assume they will only deal with specific cases rather than general grievances, but it still gives parents a legal authority to report to if a school is not providing the help they've agreed to.

If you have a complaint to register, you can go to ombudsman.on.ca, email info@ombudsman.on.ca or call 1-800-263-1830.