Ontario Planning to Download Health Support Services for Students with Disabilities to Unqualified School Staff, Leaked Draft Suggests
Educational stakeholder groups are warning a draft document circulated by Ontario’s Ministry of Education outlines plans to download “medical” and potentially “clinical” support services for students with disabilities onto unqualified school board staff. The new update to the government’s longstanding Program Memorandum 81, which covers the provision of health support services, speech and language services and therapy services in Ontario’s schools, would “delegate” many tasks currently handled by qualified health professionals to non-medical school staff. According to the leaked draft policy document, newly obtained by PressProgress, unnamed “school board personnel” with no professional health or medical backgrounds could soon be tasked with medical responsibilities. The draft policy document includes tables listing which health support services could be handled by qualified health professionals and which would be done by unqualified school staff. The document suggests school staff c