The Board of Trustees has received St. Clair Catholic’s Accessibility Plan 2022-2023. The plan, which is prepared annually, is a blueprint for improving opportunities for persons with disabilities and to provide for their involvement in the identification, removal and prevention of barriers. Each year, school boards are required to consult with persons with disabilities in the preparation of the plan, which is to be made public.
The purpose of the Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2001 (ODA) is to improve opportunities for people with disabilities and to provide for their involvement in the identification, removal, and prevention of barriers and to promote their full participation in the life of the province.
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (the “AODA”) is a provincial Act with the purpose of developing, implementation and enforcing accessibility standards to make the province accessible for all people with disabilities by 2025.
“The St. Clair Catholic District School Board has integrated both accessibility plans (ODA and AODA) to meet our obligations under Acts,” says Lisa Demers, Superintendent of Education. “Our plan is a review of the efforts undertaken by the Board during 2021-2022 to remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities. It also outlines the policies, procedures, programs, practices and services that we will look to in the 2022-2023 school year, as we continue to identify, remove and prevent barriers.”
The plan also reports on the participation of people with disabilities in the development and review of the annual accessibility plan and the consultation of community partners to ensure that Board policies and procedures are consistent with the principles of accessibility.
The focus of the Accessibility Working Group will now shift towards implementation of the province’s
K-12 Education Standards Development Committee’s findings to advance new accessibility standards for K-12 education.
The full Annual Accessibility Plan 2022-2023 can be found here.