Category: Student Safety
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One Rule, 72 Boards, 4,861 Schools: How a Ministry Policy Reaches the Classroom
A rule from the Ministry of Education reaches a classroom only after a school board and a school act on it. This article follows one rule, the sign PPM 128 requires at school entrances, from the Ministry to the door. The code of conduct documents of six of 72 boards require it. The article also…
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Promised to Parents, Not Provided: Reporting Paths, Contacts and Communication at 72 School Boards
Ontario’s rules for school boards promise parents a way to report, a person to contact and communication they can read. School Board Research drew together thirteen requirements from three reviews of all 72 district school boards. No board’s code of conduct names a role and a method for reporting, five boards’ bullying documents say where…
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Said, Not Shown: Ontario School Boards Say They Deal With Bullying. What They Publish Says Less.
Ontario school boards publish documents saying they deal with bullying. School Board Research read those documents at all 72 boards against the province’s memorandum, PPM 144. No board met all fourteen requirements tested. Twenty-five boards publish neither the plan nor the policy the memorandum describes, most keep their bullying rules in an administrative procedure that…
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Updated, Not Implemented: What 72 School Board Codes of Conduct Still Leave Out
School Board Research read the code of conduct documents of all 72 Ontario school boards against the province’s memorandum, PPM 128. No board met all eight requirements tested. The requirements added in 2024 are the ones most often missing, and at most boards it is not clear which document is the policy and which is…
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The 2026 Results Are Public: What We Found at 72 School Boards, and What We Wrote to Two Ministers
The 2026 Board Report Card is public: results for all 72 Ontario district school boards on codes of conduct, bullying prevention and intervention, and accessibility documents. No board met every requirement tested. The sector results went to the Minister of Education and the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility on 15 October 2026, and the letters…
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What Happened to Ontario’s School Climate Surveys
From 2012 the Minister of Education held the power to prescribe Ontario’s school climate survey. It never did. For fourteen years each board drafted its own, parents objected to what some boards asked, and in May 2026 the province repealed the survey rather than fix it. Two months later the Ministry deleted the requirement from…
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The Parent Playbook: How to Advocate for Your Child’s Safety in Ontario Schools
For many parents, the system does not make it easy to raise a safety concern. That is not speculation — it is one of the most consistent findings from the research conducted by School Board Research and the investigations documented by the Hold Schools Accountable Parent Network (HSA). Across Ontario, parents who raise safety concerns…
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Violence in Ontario Schools: What the Evidence Shows and What Parents Need to Know
Violence in Ontario’s publicly funded schools has risen by 77% since 2018–19, according to data obtained by Global News through Freedom of Information requests to the Ministry of Education.[1] In the 2023–24 school year — the most recent year available — 4,424 violent incidents were reported, up from 2,499 in 2018–19.[1] And as investigators from…
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A Cover-Up Culture? How Boards Control the Narrative on School Safety
When a serious incident occurs at a school — an assault, a threat, a pattern of violence — parents expect transparency. They expect to be told what happened, what is being done about it, and what safeguards are in place to protect their children. The evidence, however, suggests that many Ontario school boards operate very…
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Most Ontario Boards Fell Short on Selected Code of Conduct Clauses
Policy/Program Memorandum 128 (PPM 128) is not a suggestion. It is a Ministry of Education mandate governing student behaviour and school safety — the provincial baseline that every publicly funded school board in Ontario is required to meet.[1] And yet, an audit conducted by School Board Research reveals that the majority of boards are falling…