Student's death sparks anger over special education gaps in Ontario

The death of a student in Trenton, Ont., last month has raised frustrations from parents and educators over gaps in special education in Ontario.

On Saturday, dozens gathered at a rally in Mississauga, Ont., to demand better resources for students with disabilities.

The rally was held in the wake of the death of 16-year-old Landyn Ferris, who was found alone and unresponsive in a sensory room at Trenton High School on May 14, according to his family.

Ferris had Dravet syndrome, which caused him to have severe seizures. As a result, his family says they instructed the school not to leave him unsupervised.

His death inspired Kady Dawe to organize Saturday's rally.

Her two school-age children require supports, she said, but their Mississauga school won't provide them. Dawe said that's left her unable to work, since she's needed to be available if they end up being sent home.

Dawe said she eventually pulled her five-year-old out of the school after the school allegedly ignored notes from her children's doctors.

"You don't think my kids need something when the doctors are saying they do?" Dawe said at the rally. "I'm so tired of this. Nobody wants to listen."

Kady Dawe, who has two children who require extra supports, says she was inspired to organize a rally in support of special education after the death of 16-year-old Landyn Ferris on May 14, 2024. (CBC)

Educators 'stretched beyond what is humanly possible'

Some educators on the front lines say they aren't being given the tools they need to help these kids.

Gena Digiovanni, an educational assistant who represents the union for EAs in the Peel District School Board (PDSB), says staffing levels are a serious concern.

"The EAs are being stretched beyond what's humanly possible," she said at Saturday's rally. "We're all feeling something needs to change."

Teacher shortages at PDSB have recently threatened to stretch EAs even thinner.

Educators of children with disabilities were nearly moved to different roles to cover teaching gaps earlier this year. That only stopped after an outcry from parents and educators, who worried children requiring supports would be left behind.

Early childhood educator Aisha Persaud, who was also at the rally, also works in the PDSB.

She said she and her colleagues are caring for up to five kids a day. So when one child needs to be removed from a regular class for one-on-one help, "other students in the classroom are being left unattended without getting the supports they deserve," Persaud said.

She worries that unless special education is better funded, there could be more cases like Ferris.

Sixteen-year-old Landyn Ferris died on May 14, 2024, after he was left sleeping unattended in a specialized room at Trenton High School, according to his family. (Submitted by Kate Dudley-Logue)

Ferris was 'a life force,' says family friend

In an email to CBC in February, Isha Chaudhuri, a spokesperson for Education Minister Stephen Lecce, said the province had invested a "historic $3.4 billion" in special education grant funding across Ontario.

The PDSB had received $227.4 million in funding this year, Chaudhuri said.

In a statement on the minister's behalf this week after Ferris's death, Chaudhuri said the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board — which includes Trenton High School — and police "will work together to ensure this tragedy does not occur again."

But Arthur Rosenplot wonders how such a tragedy happened in the first place.

"Nobody thinks when they take their children and they drop them off at school that they're not going to come home that day," said Rosenplot, a friend of the family.

Ferris "was a life force," he added, and "an incredible little boy who was taken far too early."

Arthur Rosenplot stands outside Trenton High School on June 1, 2024. Rosenplot is a friend of the family of 16-year-old Landyn Ferris, who died at the school on May 14. After his death, Rosenplot gave this teddy bear to his mother. (Guy Quenneville/CBC)

The family intends to pursue a civil lawsuit against parties that will definitely include the school board, their lawyer told CBC on Friday.

And like the family, Rosenplot wants answers.

"The fact [is] that they left him alone to die when they had all the paperwork in the world and all the protocols in the world," he said.

"You trust the school. And the school board has lost that trust."