Student and Family Support Office to streamline responses to issues with schools, minister says

Ontario’s education minister says Student and Family Support Offices will be a resource for parents and students. CTV’s Kimberley Fowler has the story.

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra says the new “Student and Family Support Office” set to come to the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) is intended to provide consistency for parents who have a problem or a question about their child’s education.

Calandra announced the new offices Thursday, saying they will address “broader community concerns, as well as contentious or complex issues that need to be escalated after speaking with the school.”

The OCDSB is getting one of the first such offices in the province because the board is under provincial supervision, but all other school boards in Ontario are expected to have them by the next school year.

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA’s Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron, Calandra said the office is another way to handle issues at schools beyond speaking to a teacher or principal.

“They’ll be able to call into the board, they’ll have a caseperson appointed to them, they’ll be able to follow the path, know it’s being dealt with, get an acknowledgement within two days and hopefully a response on some of the easier questions within five days,” he said. “We’re also asking the boards to monitor the types of calls they’re getting and report back to us, so they know what types of challenges parents and students are facing.”

Calandra said the first point of contact for students and families will still be the teacher or the school principal.

More details about the office at the OCDSB are expected to be available by Jan. 19, 2026, according to the province. the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, the Thames Valley District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Toronto District School Board are also under provincial supervision and will be receiving similar offices in the new year.

Calandra said he was intending to bring these offices in regardless of whether boards have elected trustees or are under supervision, but he said trustees were not keeping track of the kinds of calls they were fielding.

“I asked every trustee at the boards, what are the kinds of calls you’re hearing? What challenges are you facing? And nobody could provide that, so none of this was being monitored, frankly,” he said.

Calandra said a lot of the same people who were dealing with questions and issues before will still be working on them when the new offices are established, but will be better able to keep parents informed about the results.

“When trustees were getting calls before, they weren’t dealing with the calls on their own, they were escalating those to the public service within each other boards. A teacher or principal would get a complaint that might get to a trustee, and a trustee would turn to officials within the board and say, ‘Help me solve this problem,’” Calandra said. “It was those very same people who were helping parents and maybe communicating back through the trustees. But, as opposed to the system before, we will monitor, people and parents will know who is handling the inquiry, and they’ll know when they’ll have information back and who to call.”

OCDSB ‘going in another direction’ after replacing Director of Education

Calandra did not reveal any new details about the sudden departure of Pino Buffone as director of education at the OCDSB but wished him the best.

“I think he was a fixture at the board, if I’m not mistaken, for many years. I know the new director is doing a student-focused review, and I wish Pino very well and looking forward to some of the ideas the new director has.”

The board announced the decision Tuesday, without saying whether Buffone resigned or was dismissed.

Calandra would not confirm the details of Buffone’s departure, saying only the board was “going in a different direction.” Calandra added he would support the board and its new director of education going forward.

“Boards do have the ability to move in a different direction if they please, if that’s the direction they want to move in. Nobody’s guaranteed a job for life in any system, nor should they be. The board is moving in a different direction. He served us very well and served the community well and it’s a decision they made and we’re here to support the Ottawa board,” he said.

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