Ombudsman releases the second Hidden Valley School report to the Department of Education

Tue, Dec 19, 2023

WHITEHORSE – Yukon Ombudsman, Jason Pedlar has released a draft of his second report on the sexualized abuse matter at the Hidden Valley Elementary School (HVES) to Government of Yukon’s Department of Education. This report provides a review, with recommendations, of whether the Department’s Safer Schools Action Plan is sufficient to avoid a recurrence of the communication failure to notify HVES parents of these allegations in a timely manner.

This second, and final report, completes the Ombudsman’s investigation of a complaint that the Department’s inordinate delay to inform HVES parents about the sexualized abuse of a student was unfair. The first report substantiated the communications failure, and the second report reviews the Safer Schools Action Plan and evaluates whether it addresses the unfairness identified. The Department created this plan in response to an investigation it commissioned by Amanda Rogers. It accepted all her recommendations.

The Ombudsman is required to provide the Department of Education (the Authority) with the opportunity to respond before the report is available to the public, as required under section 17 of the Ombudsman Act. The Ombudsman has requested that the Department of Education provide comments on this second report by January 31, 2024. It is anticipated that the final report will be released to the public in February.

About the Yukon Ombudsman:

The Yukon Ombudsman, Yukon Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Yukon Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner is an independent officer of the Yukon Legislative Assembly.

The Yukon Ombudsman promotes and protects fairness in the delivery of government and other public services. If a citizen and have been treated unfairly when engaging these services, we work to resolve the unfairness. The Ombudsman also works proactively with Authorities to assist them in delivering services more fairly.

Contact:
Tanis Davey
Communications and Outreach Analyst
Office of the Yukon Ombudsman, Information and Privacy Commissioner, and Public Interest Disclosure Commissioner
tanis.davey@yukonombudsman.ca
867-332-4555
www.yukonombudsman.ca

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