Policy 517 Service Animals for Students

Policy Statement

The Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) is committed to the learning of all students and provides a range of differentiated placements, programs and interventions to support student success.  It is the policy of the UGDSB, in accordance with its obligations pursuant to the Ontario Human Rights Code, to provide individualized accommodation to students with disabilities to enable them to have meaningful access to education services.

1.1           The UGDSB recognizes that for some students, attending school with a trained service animal is an accommodation that can assist a student with a demonstrated disability-related learning need to access the curriculum, integrate more fully into the school community, and build independence.

1.2           Each request for a student to attend school with their service animal as a learning accommodation shall be reviewed individually by the board, considering the student’s dignity, integration, independence and disability-related learning needs, and the range of accommodations available to enable meaningful access to education.

1.3     The process of service animal accommodation shall consider the competing human rights of other students and of staff, the impact of the service animal on the learning environment, and the health and safety of all individuals who are or might be in the school, on school grounds, or at a school-related event.

First adopted: October 2006 (as Protocol for Service Dogs in Schools for Students with Special Needs (P06)), May 2018 (as Policy 517)
Revision history: April 2011 (as P06), May 2018 (new 517), January 2020 (new name), May 2026

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