MPP Amy Fee lauds bid to allow service dogs in schools
WATERLOO REGION — Requests to bring guide dogs into the classroom will be more straightforward for both families and educators under proposed provincial guidelines.
A legislative amendment, if passed, would provide guidance for school boards to develop their policies on service animals.
Currently, only about half of school boards across Ontario have policies on service animals.
“Those policies that are in place vary widely from board to board,” said Kitchener SouthHespeler MPP Amy Fee, who asked Education Minister Lisa Thompson about service dogs in the legislature on Tuesday.
“We want to make sure there is a fair and open process for all students.”
If the legislation is approved, the public will be able to provide input on the policy directive that would be issued to school boards.
The boards would need to have service dog policies in place by September 2019.
Both the Waterloo Region District School board and Waterloo Catholic District School Board currently have a service dog policy.
The issue has a personal connection for Fee.
Her son, Kenner Fee, has autism and a service dog named Ivy that who calms the boy when he becomes overwhelmed.
The Catholic board wouldn’t allow the dog into Kenner’s Kitchener classroom and Fee appealed to the human rights tribunal, which sided with the school board last fall.
Kenner is at the same school, but without the calming companionship of Ivy.
“Unfortunately he doesn’t attend with his service animal,” Fee said.
She said the struggle many families face to get a service dog into the classroom causes stress for the parents and “it’s really affecting the mental health of the children involved.”
Fee knows of one family that moved to be in a school board more welcoming to service animals.
Often a school will focus on determining a student’s need to have a service dog, rather than rely on the opinion of medical and service dog professionals.
Former Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Michael Harris brought forward a private member’s bill in 2016 to ensure people with disabilities who need a service dog are accommodated in all public spaces including schools, but it didn’t get past first reading.
Thompson said in a release that every family in the province should feel supported when it comes to ensuring their child has access to a meaningful education.
“Families of students with special needs deserve a clear and transparent process for requesting that service animals be able to accompany their children, no matter where they live,” she said.