The Ombudsperson has begun an investigation into the exclusion of students, particularly those with diverse needs, from classrooms and schools in BC’s K-12 public education system. The purpose of our investigation is to determine whether these exclusions are fair. We will report publicly on the results of our investigation.

What is exclusion?

Exclusion from school can happen in many ways. Students may be:

• asked to stay home/go home
• asked to leave early/arrive late/have shortened school days
• asked not to attend field trips or other school activities
• unable to attend because of health/personal care support needs the school is unable to provide
• unable to attend because of learning support needs the school is unable to provide
• not learning with the rest of their class
• isolated by themselves in the school, secluded and/or restrained

Invitation to participate in investigation

To help inform our investigation we are asking families of students who have been excluded from school to please fill out a brief online questionnaire. The questionnaire will take about 10 minutes to complete and your participation is voluntary. You can skip questions or stop at any time. If you’d like to complete this questionnaire in a different way, please email us or call 1-800-567-3247.

All questionnaire responses are confidential under the Ombudsperson Act. We may include questionnaire data or responses in our public report, but this information will be anonymized. We will not identify you or your child.

This questionnaire is not a complaint to our office. Learn more about how to make a complaint to our office.