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Special Education Advisory CommitteeSEAC For many years, ABC Ottawa has contributed representatives to Special Education Advisory Committees (SEACs) on public and private school boards across the region. Through our participation in the SEACs, we have been able to monitor School Board support for programs for gifted students, and have lobbied strongly for better, more widely available programs and services for these special students. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board SEAC A good overview of what the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board currently offers for gifted students is available on their website under Special Education. Although this isn't exclusively about gifted programs and services, it is a good place to begin. The Parent Guide in particular should be of interest to parents of already identified students or those still considering the possibility. To reach the ABC representatives for your school board Contact Us! ABC Responds to the Special Education Program and Service Review (Phase II) Final ReportThe OCDSB contracted two consultants (Dr. Jean Hewitt and Gerry Clarke) to carry out a review of the board's special education programs and services. The Final Report was released in January 2006. The report is given here for your reference (Final Report) in reading ABC Ottawa's response to the report. (ABC Ottawa's reponse to the Phase II Spec Ed Review) OCDSB Responds to SEAC Minority Report ABC Ottawa has received a response to the submission "COMMENTS ON THE OTTAWA CARLETON-DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD'S SPECIAL EDUCATION PLAN 2001-2002". ABC Ottawa is now preparing a response in regards to this response.
The response is available here; OCDSB Response to the ABC Minority Report. OCDSB SEAC Minority Report
COMMENTS ON THE The Ministry of Education introduced a province-wide standard in 2000 that school boards must meet when developing their special education plans. As part of the required process, boards must take into consideration issues from members of the community. This consultation must be maintained on a continuous basis throughout the year. The board's special education plan, according to the Standard, must describe the consultation process and must include a description of any majority or minority reports concerning the board's approved plan that have been received from any member of the board's Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). Further, the plan must include the board's response to these reports. The Association for Bright Children (ABC), Ottawa Chapter is represented on the Ottawa Carleton District School Board's (OCDSB) SEAC and has upon review of the draft Special Education Plan 2001-2002 as submitted to the Ministry of Education in July 2001 identified several areas where it does not believe that the OCDSB is in compliance with the requirements of Regulation 181/98, Identification and Placement of Exceptional Pupils, Ministry guidelines, recent Special Education Tribunal decisions and/or the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing . These areas are described in the balance of this report. We have followed the same order as that used in the Ministry of Education's Standards for School Board's Special Education Plans, 2000.
The report is available here for download; (a new version - updated for 12 Jun 02 submission) |
