Advocating for your child’s rights

Sometimes, despite your best efforts to work collaboratively with the school, your child may not get the help they need, and you may want to escalate your concerns.

Escalating concerns within the education system

The first step in this process is to learn about the dispute resolution procedures in your school. While the process can vary from place to place, generally, you would start by addressing your concern directly with your child’s teacher. If that doesn’t work, you can bring the issue to the attention of the school principal or vice principal. If your concerns are still not adequately addressed, the next step is to reach out to the appropriate person in your school board, district, division, or regional centre.

Pursuing legal options when school processes fail

If you are not able to work things out with the school board, you can consider taking legal action or filing a complaint with your Human Rights Commission.

When advocating for your child, it’s important to remain focused on what is best for them. Advocacy aims to create a supportive and inclusive environment where your child can thrive. Sometimes, parents feel frustrated and angry, wanting to take legal action out of a desire to fight back. While this might offer a sense of power and relief, it is not always what is best for the child. Collaboration with schools and educators is often the most effective way to ensure your child’s needs are met. It’s crucial, however, to be well-informed about your rights to advocate effectively and ensure your child receives the support they deserve.

Things to consider before starting legal action

If you’ve tried to work with the school and your child is still not receiving the support they need, you may need to take your complaint outside the education system and instead access your province or territory’s Human Rights organization or legal system. This can be a long process and might not always lead to immediate changes for your child, so it should be used as a last resort. Things to consider:

• Communicate at all available levels

Make sure you have tried all ways to resolve the issue with the school. This includes speaking with the teacher, the school principal, and the school board. Make sure you’ve documented all these attempts.

• Will it improve the situation?

Think about whether escalating the complaint will truly help your child. Sometimes, pursuing formal complaints may not result in immediate or satisfactory outcomes.

• Consider other solutions

Before filing a formal complaint, try other solutions first. For example, hiring a lawyer to write a formal letter might get the same results without needing to go to a human rights tribunal.

• Purpose of the complaint

Spend time thinking about why you’re making the complaint. Are you looking to help your child, change the system for all students, or are there other goals?

• Check your resources

Make sure you have enough time, resources, and energy to handle this complaint before starting the process.

• Beware of unrealistic promises

Watch out for lawyers who promise that a lawsuit will lead to a big financial award. If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is. Some lawyers may ask for a lot of money up front and charge high hourly fees, saying you’ll get a lot of money in return. Often, these big promises do not come true.

Taking these factors into account will help you make a well-informed decision about how to proceed with your complaint.