MEd, University of Toronto, 1987
BA, York University, 1976.

Areas of Specialization: Assistive technology, special education, differentiated instruction and inclusive education.

Rick has over thirty years experience in public education as a teacher and school administrator. He has worked in the elementary and secondary panels, two Boards, with the Ministry of Education and during a sabbatical,
at the Child Development Clinic of the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children. His passion in education is to open up the instructional doors for all types of students. In particular he focused on models of providing equitable and enabling instruction for students with special needs. This focus grew out of his professional experience, his family journey raising two boys with learning disabilities and as a foster parent for Young Offenders, all of whom had major struggles in school. As a result, in three of his schools as Principal, he developed the model of inclusion, where students of all abilities were provided their education in a regular class with appropriate accommodations and modifications and where support was brought to them. Rick also is involved in the utilization of assistive technologies by individuals and the implementation of assistive technologies as universally accessible throughout a school.