KPR Trustee Candidate Announces Plan to Bring Parent Resources Directly to Parents.

Trustee candidate Jack Henry announces "Know Your Board", a plan to bring KPR's existing parent resources directly to families, built on practices already working at other Ontario boards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PETERBOROUGH, ON (September 28th 2026) — Jack Henry, candidate for Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPR) Trustee for the City of Peterborough, today announced a new platform initiative aimed at closing an information gap he says parents raised with him repeatedly on the campaign trail & is a major gap identified in the Ontario Auditor Generals Report on Special Education.

"In conversation after conversation, parents told me some version of the same thing," said Henry. "They didn't know their child could have an IEP without a formal identification process. They didn't know who to call when a concern with a teacher or administrator went nowhere. They found out how the system worked only after they were already stuck in it. That's not a parent failure, that's an information problem, and it's one the board can fix."

Henry notes that KPR already maintains resources for these situations, including a Student and Family Support Office and a published escalation flowchart. "The board isn't starting from nothing. The problem is that parents have to already know these resources exist before they can use them. Right now, the board waits for parents to find it. That should be the other way around."

Under the proposed initiative, called Know Your Board, Henry points to established practice elsewhere in the province: both the Toronto District School Board and the Waterloo Region District School Board run regular, structured parent education sessions on navigating special education, often delivered through their Special Education Advisory Committees. Henry says he will bring forward a motion to expand the mandate of KPR's existing Parent Involvement Committee, working alongside the board's Special Education Advisory Committee, to deliver comparable sessions locally, built directly on top of KPR's existing support resources. Proposed topics include the IEP process, when a formal Identification, Placement and Review Committee (IPRC) referral is and isn't required, escalation pathways for concerns with school staff, and access to mental health supports.

"This isn't an experiment," said Henry. "It's a practice that's already working at other boards in this province. We're not inventing something new, we're catching up, and making better use of what KPR already has."

Henry is running alongside fellow candidate Shawna Blackwood for Peterborough City's two KPR trustee seats in the October 2026 municipal election. Know Your Board joins his existing platform pillars on arts education, special education and mental health support, and financial transparency. Henry will be available to discuss the initiative in person at Electionfest on Thursday, October 1. More information about Know Your Board can be found here.

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About Jack Henry

Jack Henry is a Peterborough-based graphic designer and civic advocate, owner of Loon in the Mist Creative and founder of Peterborough Alto Rail Advocates. He has been endorsed by outgoing KPR Trustee Rose Kitney and is running on arts education, special education accountability, and financial transparency. jackhenryforkpr.ca

Authorized by the official agents of Jack Henry, candidate for KPR District School Board Trustee, City of Peterborough.