220.2. After consulting with the parents’ committee, every school service centre shall establish, by by-law, a procedure for the examination of complaints related to its functions.
The complaint examination procedure must enable a complainant who is a student, a homeschooled child or a parent of either and who has filed a complaint with regard to the services the school service centre provides to him under this Act and who is dissatisfied with the handling of the complaint or with the outcome to refer the complaint to a person designated by the school service centre as the Student Ombudsman. The Student Ombudsman is designated after consultation with the parents’ committee and on the recommendation of the governance and ethics committee. Neither a member of the school service centre’s board of directors nor a member of the personnel of the school service centre may act as Student Ombudsman.
In addition to the measures the Minister may establish by regulation, the complaint examination procedure must provide that the Student Ombudsman must refuse or cease to examine a complaint upon becoming aware or being informed that the complaint concerns a fault or an act for which a complaint has been filed with the Minister under section 26. The procedure must also provide that, within 30 days after the complaint is referred, the Student Ombudsman must give the school service centre’s board of directors an opinion on the merits of the complaint and recommend any appropriate corrective measures.
The Student Ombudsman must send the school service centre an annual report stating the number of complaint referrals received and their nature, the corrective measures recommended and any action taken. The report must separately list complaint referrals concerning acts of bullying or violence. It may include any recommendation the Student Ombudsman considers appropriate with respect to measures required to prevent and stop bullying and violence. The report must be attached to the school service centre’s annual report.
The school service centre may enter into an agreement with another school service centre to designate the same person as Student Ombudsman and determine how to share the expenses incurred.
2008, c. 29, s. 29; 2012, c. 19, s. 18; 2016, c. 262016, c. 26, s. 4111; 2020, c. 1, ss. 163 and 312.