Reporting serious student incidents under the Education Act

An employee of the school board who becomes aware that a student at a school of the board may have engaged in conduct that could lead to suspension or expulsion (in this document, called “a serious student incident”) shall report the matter to the principal as soon as reasonably possible. The employee must consider the safety of others and the urgency of the situation in reporting the incident, but, in any case, must report it to the principal no later than the end of the school day. Refer to Education Act, s.300.2.

All employee reports related to serious student incidents, including those made to the principal verbally, must be confirmed in writing, using the online Safe Schools Incident Reporting (SSIR) Form – Part I. Refer to PPM 145 Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour for a copy of the Safe Schools Incident Reporting (SSIR) form.

Board employees are not required to respond to serious student incidents when, in their opinion, responding would cause immediate physical harm to themselves or to a student or to another person. Serious student incidents must, however, be reported to the principal and confirmed in writing. In cases where an immediate action is required, a verbal report to the principal may be made. A written report must be made when it is safe to do so. Refer to Ontario Regulation 472/07 – Behaviour, Discipline and Safety of Pupils of the Education Act.

The principal must investigate all serious student incident reports submitted by board employees. Once the investigation is complete, the principal must communicate the results of the investigation to the teacher who made the report. If a board employee who is not a teacher made the report, the principal will communicate the results of the investigation to that employee unless, in the principal’s opinion, it would not be appropriate to do so.

Communication between the principal and school staff about the investigation and the results of the investigation is a shared responsibility, and is an important factor in meeting student needs and fostering collaboration in the school. In all cases, the principal must provide the employee who reported the incident with written acknowledgement, using the Safe Schools Incident Reporting Form – Part II. Information that could identify the student(s) involved must not be part of the acknowledgement.

In addition to employees of the school board, third parties (e.g., school bus drivers, contractors providing before- and/or after-school programs for Full-Day Kindergarten on the school site, etc.) who are under contract or agreement with the board are required to report serious student incidents in writing to the principal of the school as soon as reasonably possible. School Boards are expected to provide information to these third parties on how to complete the Safe Schools Incident Reporting Form – Part I.

School boards may also put policies in place to require other individuals who are not employees of the board who come into direct contact with students on a regular basis, to report serious student incidents to the principal (e.g., outdoor education instructors).

For more information refer to the Education Act s.300.2 and Ontario Regulation 472/07 Behaviour, Discipline and Safety of Pupils.

Reporting violent incidents to the Ministry of Education under Policy and Program Memorandum 120

School boards are required to report the total number of violent incidents (as per Policy and Program Memorandum 120 Reporting Violent Incidents to the Ministry of Education) on an annual basis to the Ministry of Education through the Ontario School Information System (OnSIS).

For the purposes of PPM 120, the term “violent incident” is defined as the occurrence of any one of the following or the occurrence of a combination of any of the following:

  • possessing a weapon, including possessing a firearm
  • physical assault causing bodily harm requiring medical attention
  • sexual assault
  • robbery
  • using a weapon to cause or to threaten bodily harm to another person
  • extortion
  • hate and/or bias-motivated occurrences.

All violent incidents that occur on school premises during school-run programs must be reported to the Ministry of Education, whether the violent incident was committed by a student of the school or whether it was committed by any other person.

For more information, refer to Policy/Program Memorandum 120: Reporting Violent Incidents to the Ministry of Education, 2011.