Re: Parents fear pandemic will lead to more exclusion of special needs students, Aug 26

After Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird’s disappointing emphasis on congregated sites to address the needs of special-education students (Ontario students with disabilities face more obstacles returning to class, advocates say, Aug 22), we are pleased to see that TDSB superintendent of special education, Angela Nardi-Addesa, is instructing schools that pandemic protocols cannot be used as a reason to exclude students and that students unable to wear a mask or to properly physically distance will be accommodated.

More than half of TDSB’s students and thousands of students all over the province with disabilities are not in special-education classrooms. These students will need to be accommodated in a way that does not force them to accept a congregated site or online learning as the only viable “safe” option for their return and participation.

Paula Boutis, Integration Action for Inclusion