The Ontario School Board that launched a review after the death of one of its students last year says that it wants something good to leave the process, although some details, including the cause of death of the child, are still clear all these months later.
“There are still some gaps to have a complete image of what happened that day,” says the senior official of the Board.
Landyn Ferris, a 10th grade student at Trenton High School in the center of Ontario, died in May 2024, shortly after his 16th birthday, and in circumstances that remain unclear.
Ferris’s family claimed that he was left alone in a private room in his school, despite the staff knowing that he had a condition that meant that he needed careful observation.
In the midst of the threat of the family of a lawsuit, which is not carried out, the School Board of the District of Hastings and Prince Edward (Hatedsb) said little about death.
But almost 11 months later, the Board is giving its most widespread comments to the extent that it updates its trusts about a continuous review of the school protocols that began after Ferris’s death, although the informative session does not deepen the death itself.
“We look in and deal with the information we had to honor Landyn, but also honor our staff that seeks ways to make a difference,” said Katherine Maciver, director of Education of the Board, in an interview.
“For something positive to get out of something incredibly tragic.”
Guarantee the ‘optimal’ personnel resources
On Monday, Maciver and another Board official, Ken Dostaler, went to the publicly chosen trusts of the Board on the review, which focused on internal processes related to students with special education and medical needs.
Ferris was in the Trenton High’s life skills program for students with complex needs. According to Josh Nisker, the lawyer who represents Ferris’s family, Ferris had Dravet syndrome, a rare type of genetic epilepsy that can cause seizures.
Before Ferris died, his mother had warned the school that he couldn’t stay alone, Nisker said, especially while sleeping, since he was a trigger for his seizures.
The family alleged that Ferris stayed alone in a sensory room, a space to help calm or involve students in learning, only to be cold and insensitive at some point later, when the staff went to put it on a school bus.
“The objective of the review was to ensure that staff has access to optimal resources, training and procedures,” Dentaler wrote in a summary report to the trust before the meeting of the Board on Monday.
Some of the planned improvements are described in Dostaler’s update, touch on issues that were relevant to Ferris’s death, some no, Maciver told CBC.
“I would say that most of them are just a review of the things we do regularly, but we are adjusting those processes and making sure that there is an adjusted incorporation for the new staff,” Dostaler told the trusts on Monday.
Among other things, the list of objectives in the update includes:
- Support and training for supply education assistants.
- More mandatory training for all personnel, whether permanent or temporary, who are responsible for the safety and well -being of students with complex needs.
- Ensure that emergency supply candidates are prepared enough for their roles and that schools give them time to review individual education plans and “security, behavior and medical emergency medical plans.”
- Ensure that all personnel who work directly with students who have medical needs receive information about the student’s condition.
The update also mentions the responsibility of the parents to provide updated information on the serious medical situation of their children “as a condition of attending a school”, as well as information on medicines and possible side effects.
The Board will also review its sensory rooms and how they are used.
‘It was very loved’
When asked what happened that day, Maciver mentioned for the first time how the loss had a great impact on the staff.
“What I could say is that this is probably the worst in the life of this family and friends and this staff at school. Landyn’s loss feels acutely throughout the system, [though] Nowhere near what the family is happening … “Maciver said.
“He was very loved … and he is certainly not forgotten.”
Maciver continued to say that the Board focused on its review in the areas it could address based on the information it had. That does not include the cause of death of Ferris.
“We don’t have that information,” he said. A spokesman for the Chief Forensic office said families get copies of the Forensic reports, but not in school boards.
Maciver said he could not discuss the day Ferris found due to the confidentiality of students and family.
When asked if any school personnel were disciplined or fired as a result of what happened, she said: “We had no indications that this were necessary based on our investigation or police investigation.”
Nisker declined to comment for this story, but confirmed that Ferris’s family has not yet “not” presented any legal action.
He did not respond when asked if the family knows the cause of death of the Ferris.
Lawyer demands the investigation of the Forensic
The photos show that Ferris had a brilliant smile and wore t -shirts with superheroes. He had attended Trenton High School since grade 6, Nisker said before CBC.
“He kept me soft even when I was angry with the world,” said his mother, Brenda Davis, in a statement to CBC in the first days of his pain.
Ferris’s death reached the provincial headlines and caused debate in the Ontario Legislature. The Minister of Education at that time, Stephen Lecce, asked critics to allow “independent and complete investigation”, pointing out parallel consultations of the Forensic Office and the OPP. The police force did not remain involved for a long time because there were no signs of dirty game.
For David Lepofsky, president of accessibility for the alliance of the Ontaries Law with disabilities, Ferris’s death still “cries for a public responsibility” such as the investigation of a coroner. (The Forensic service says that families in these circumstances can request an investigation, but they are not mandatory).
“There are no indications of what protocols, if anyone had and what went wrong,” Lepofsky said about the update of the Board.
The Board took some questions from the trusts on Monday, although one, Ernie Parsons, said it might not be advisable to talk about Ferris’s death, citing the “great possibility” of a lawsuit.
“The identification of improvements is also interpreted as identification of deficit in the past,” he said.
Maciver said he did not see a problem with “identifying the fact that we can all improve in what we do” continuously and concluded his comments to the trusts with a call to action.
“I would ask you to take responsibility. Ask us about some of these objectives that the team has established … because I think we should inform about how we are improving day by day, month by month, year after year.”
The president of the Board, Kari Kramp told CBC by email that the trusts have “full confidence” in Maciver and the staff “as they take reflexive and informed measures” and that the trusts assume their own responsibility to supervise the improvements of the “seriously” system.
