Here’s a quick look at news and resources related to education law that made headlines in the past few months.
When it comes to COVID matters, educators continue to raise concerns about the long-term impact of the pandemic on children and their education, and some specifically wonder what hybrid schooling means for children with exceptionalities. As online learning becomes part of the new normal, you might be interested in reading what the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has to say about children’s rights in relation to the digital environment. Speaking of how children are learning, food literacy may be coming to Ontario schools if Bill 216 manages to wind its way through the legislative process.
With recent changes to school governance structures elsewhere in Canada, TVO’s The Agenda recently asked whether elected trustees are passé as concept. Still in the school board governance vein, issues around 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion continue to make the news, with the recent decisions of Catholic school boards to fly the Pride flag or not during the month of June. For those seeking resources around gender identity and gender expression in schools, researchers from Queen’s University and University of Ottawa have launched an online resource for students and educators, complete with a unicorn mascot.
At the intersection of education and criminal law, the proceedings in R v Mills continue. Educator Nicholas Mills is accused of criminal negligence related to the drowning of 15-year-old Jeremiah Perry during a camping trip in Algonquin Park in 2017. Elsewhere, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection has called for a rethink of how allegations of sexual misconduct by educators are handled within the Ontario school system in light of two criminal cases in Eastern Ontario.
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