Committee of the Whole: February 4, 2025
The Committee of the Whole meeting for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on February 4, 2025, with me as chair. Staff brought forward two reports with one recommendation for discussion.
I voted in favour of the recommendations in Report 25-001, Proposed School Year Calendar 2025 to 2026. The regular school year calendar commences on or after September 2 and ends on or before June 30 within a minimum number of 194 school days in the calendar. This report outlines the 194 school days for the 2025 to 2026 elementary and secondary school year calendars for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. Staff incorporated three new Provincial Priority Professional Activity days and worked to align all Professional Activity days amongst elementary and secondary schools. In addition, staff worked with the other school board to align holiday breaks based on community feedback in previous years. During the discussion, I asked the following to staff (timestamp 00:20:53):
Comment: What does E, X, and PA stand for? They are not defined in the legend, and it makes it an inaccessible document.
Response: The final calendar that will be published will define every element of the school calendar.
Question: I know that the report mentions a wide consultation was done to create the calendar, have the Advisory Committees been given a chance to review the calendars to highlight any significant days?
Answer: Not all of the Advisory Committees have provided feedback on the calendar. The procedure for consulting on the calendar specifies consulting with parents, students, and staff so we have consulted with the Parent Involvement Council, Student Senate, and select staff. It has not been our practice to garner feedback from the Advisory Committees.
The recommendations were carried.
Staff brought forward Report 25-003 for discussion. This is the first of three Student Learning Updates and focuses on key learning areas including an update on student achievement planning and reporting. This report highlights the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) results for our District. Key takeaways from the results include:
Participation rates remain high, signalling active engagement, particularly in the earlier grades.
Compared to the province, students were more likely to meet the provincial standard in mathematics.
Compared to the province, elementary reading and writing scores were either on par or slightly less than the province, OSSLT results were higher.
Compared to the province, there were small decreases in reading and writing, particularly in grade 6 writing.
There continue to be lower rates of success on provincial assessments for multilingual learners, students with special education needs (excluding gifted), students who identify as Indigenous, and students residing in low-income neighbourhoods.
EQAO standards are one part of the data that makes up the student achievement analysis. To address the discrepancies in math, staff have been enacting the Math Achievement Action Plan which includes creating math networks, monitoring progress, and math coaches. To address the discrepancies in literacy, staff have been doing early reading screening, direct student support through reading intervention teachers in the classroom, and engaging literacy coaches. Staff expect these measures will slowly increase student achievement.
Please note, that the opinions expressed here are entirely my own and do not reflect an official position of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board or the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board of Trustees. Please note answers from staff are paraphrased, the recording can be found here if you would like to watch the entire meeting. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me using my contact form here.
Key links
Video for the Board meeting on February 4, 2025
Agenda for the Committee of the Whole meeting on February 4, 2025
Report 25-001, School Year Calendar 2025 to 2026
Report 25-003, Student Learning Update on Core Academic Skills
