OSDSS Service Dog Conflict Highlights Burdensome Process for Disabled Students
OSDSS Service Dog Conflict Highlights Burdensome Process for Disabled Students
A 16-year-old student trying to navigate the Bluewater District School Board's procedures for service dog approval since May was not allowed to start school with her peers today.
A 16-year-old student planning to start school at Owen Sound District Secondary School (OSDSS) on September 3 had her hopes dashed when her service dog approval didn’t come through in time.
The Owen Sound teen, whose name we are withholding to protect her privacy, provided the Owen Sound Current with a note from her primary care physician’s clinic stating that she requires the service animal to mitigate her disabilities.
Her legal guardian says she submitted the doctor’s note to the principal at OSDSS in May 2024.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) protects people with disabilities from discrimination in Ontario. It protects the rights of those with service dogs to take them in public places without question, including restaurants, malls, and privately owned shops.
However, a 2017 Ontario Human Rights Code ruling that schools are not places that all members of the public have access to has left public school students relying on the AODA out in the cold.
According to the AODA.ca website:
“This ruling means that students with service animals cannot automatically bring their animals to school with them.
Instead, they must ask their school boards if they can bring the animal.
School boards then make decisions on a case-by-case basis.”
All school boards in Ontario are required to develop, implement, and maintain their own policy on student use of service animals in schools. Under the Human Rights Code, school boards must accommodate the needs of students with disabilities up to the point of undue hardship.
What that looks like in practice is up to the board.
In the Bluewater District School Board, where OSDSS is located, this process is guided by an administrative procedure called AP-6809: Guide Dog/Service Animal/Companion Dog (Use of in Schools).
A representative for the BWDSB told Owen Sound Current, “Service and companion animals are welcome in all Bluewater District School Board schools when required, following our procedure.”
The section for getting a service animal approved to accompany a student to school outlines 19 requirements and tasks.
It begins with the student’s parent or guardian informing the school's principal of the student’s requirement, a step this student’s guardian says she took in May 2024, at least six weeks before the end of the 2023/24 school year.
The student and her guardian have also provided the school confirmation from a regulated health professional that the student requires the assistance of a service animal.
The animal in question is a trained service dog that is fully current with municipal licensing and vaccinations.
The process for evaluating a service animal request in the BWDSB also includes:
Completion of administrative form AF 6808 “Guide Dog/Service Animal/Companion Dog Request for Involvement with a Student”
A consultation by the principal with the superintendent responsible for special education
A team meeting with the parent(s)/guardian(s), classroom teacher(s), educational assistant(s), learning resource teacher, system special education lead teacher (SSELT), superintendent responsible for special education, and other support staff as deemed appropriate by the principal, during which no fewer than 12 mandatory issues must be discussed.
Completion of form AF 6809 “Guide Dog/Service Animal/Companion Dog Management Plan for Care”
A consultation between the principal and the superintendent responsible for special education prior to approval and planning the implementation process.
An information session for the School Council and other interested community members to inform them of the service animal request, and to receive feedback or relevant information.
Mandatory notification of the request to have a service animal in the school to all school staff members, teaching and non-teaching.
Mandatory notification of the request to have a service animal in the school to all students and their parent(s)/guardian(s) in the school community.
A fire and emergency exit plan for the service animal.
Completion of form AF 6807 “Use of a Guide Dog/Service Animal/Companion Dog – Principal Checklist” by the principal.
The addition of the service animal under ‘Accommodation’ on the student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP).
The BWDSB administrative procedure notes that the rights and needs of one person will be balanced against the rights and needs of others.
“Where the presence of a service animal would pose a risk to someone else in the school because of a disability, an accommodation process will be undertaken with the involvement of all stakeholders in order to find a resolution,” it states.
As of today, the student says, she has been informed by the principal at OSDSS that she must submit all outstanding paperwork in person at the school. However, she claims she was also told she may not bring her service animal to the school for that meeting.
“They told me they have to survey all the students and parents to see if anyone has allergies, and that will take at least 30 days,” the student said Tuesday.
A representative for BWDSB sent us the following statement when asked for comment:
“While all the specifics of this particular situation cannot be shared due to the protection of personal student information, the staff at Owen Sound District Secondary School have been communicating and working through all the necessary steps of the process with the student to ensure they are welcomed to the school community as soon as possible.”
“If I could wave a magic wand, the ideal outcome would be me in school within the next couple of days, with my dog, being treated like a normal student in school full-time,” the student told us.
“But they told me it will take until at least October.”
Sources:
Interview with student and her legal guardian, September 3, 2024.
Education in Ontario: policy and program direction - Policy/Program Memorandum 163, Government of Ontario
Consultation: Service animals in schools, Government of Ontario
Policy on accessible education for students with disabilities, Ontario Human Rights Commission
Accessibility in Ontario, Government of Ontario
This is troubling to me.