(Canada) Barrie: Catholic schools see MORE SPED student; complexity of needs is also greater

Oct 11, 2025, Orillia Matters: Local mom outraged after son with autism sent home amid staffing issues 

'He has to have an education. This is what our tax dollars pay for. This isn’t right,' says mother of six-year-old boy

https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/local-mom-outraged-after-son-with-autism-sent-home-amid-staffing-issues-11329623

A Barrie mother is ringing the alarm bell after her six-year-old autistic son was denied what she says was his basic human right to education earlier this fall.

Kristy Dewide’s son, Dallas, was diagnosed with autism when he was 18 months old and has been enrolled in Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI) services since he was three, she said.

“He is high functioning, I would say, (but) with transitions he has a hard time. He has something called ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder), so there are certain foods he can’t tolerate and textures, but other than that, and transitions, he is very high functioning,” she said. “Fully verbal, but you can tell when certain things will set him off with certain transitions.”

After attending a public school for kindergarten, Dewilde says she enrolled her son in a private school specializing in special education; however, with tuition costing more than $26,000 [$19K] annually, it became too much of a financial burden.  

“We had no funding. It just wasn’t sustainable,” she said. “We thought, let’s try the Catholic school board, because we were told there was extra funding and the supports were great.”

In May, Dallas was registered at St. Bernadette’s Catholic School on Marsellus Drive in south Barrie, after which Dewilde said they had about five meetings with her Catulpa worker and the Children’s Treatment Network, along with board staff, where they would meet in the school and brainstorm a plan to ensure her son’s transition would be a success.

“We met the principal (and) all of the staff came in that would be accommodating — the special education resource teacher, the special needs (teacher), (and) told his individualized education plan (IEP) would be put in place. He had the occupational therapist paperwork. All of that was set in place,” she said. 

A week before the new school year, Dallas even enjoyed a walk-through of his future classroom, Dewilde added.

“He got completely prepared that this is where he was going to be going,” she said. 

Two days before school started, Dewilde says she received an email from school administration informing her that the school did not have the appropriate support staff in place, and that Dallas would not be able to start school as planned.

To confuse the matter, the following day Dewilde says she received an email from a teacher welcoming Dallas to the classroom.

“I thought, OK, they’ve smoothed it out and he is good to go,” she said. “We show up on the first day of school, he has his backpack and the principal stopped me and said to me, ‘unfortunately, we can’t start Dallas today. We don’t have any teachers.'"

Dewilde says she was told they would call her when someone had been hired.

"He (was) having a meltdown because he wants to go to school," she said. "He has to have an education. This is what our tax dollars pay for. This isn’t right.

"A week prior, we were doing a walk-through. Why not mention it then?”

After three weeks had passed, Dewilde says she heard from school officials, who told her they were willing to have Dallas attend, but on a modified basis — meaning he wouldn’t begin his day until noon.

“I have a job. This is unacceptable. Thank goodness I work from home, but if I worked in an office, I’d probably have been fired,” she said, referring to the additional time she’s had to spend away from her job. 

The number of students entering into the local Catholic school system with special needs is increasing every year and the complexity of those needs is also greater, said Pauline Stevenson, manager of communications and strategic initiatives for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB). . . .

Dewilde has since opted to withdraw Dallas from the Catholic board, saying she enrolled him at Holly Meadows Elementary School, located just a few minutes down the road. 

“He was able to start three days later, no question. They said (they would), of course, make it work. At this point, it’s three-and-a-half weeks in and he’s finally able to start school," she said. . . .