Committee of the Whole: May 6, 2025
The Committee of the Whole Meeting for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on May 6, 2025, with me as chair. Staff brought forward 1 report with 3 recommendations for discussion.
Staff brought forward Report 25-025, Elementary Program Review Final Recommendations for discussion. The Elementary Program Review launched in April 2024 and has aimed to evaluate and enhance the delivery of elementary education across the District. Throughout the Elementary Program Review staff have brought forward the following reports and you can read more about the robust discussion on each report in my blog below:
Report 24-052, Elementary Program Review: Sought the approval of the Board of Trustees to initiate an Elementary Program Review in Spring 2024.
Blog from April 2, 2024
Report 24-110, Elementary Program Review Relevant Research and District Data: Provided the analyses and syntheses of District-level data and contextually relevant external research related to the program review at the elementary level.
Blog from October 8, 2024
Report 25-002, Comprehensive Report on the Elementary Program Review, Proposed Program Model and Support for Students: Sought the approval of the Board of Trustees to initiate the next iteration of community consultation on the Proposed Program Model and Support for Students.
Blog from January 21, 2025
Report 25-016 (original proposal) Comprehensive Report on the Elementary Program Review, Proposed School Boundaries, Grades and Program Configurations: Provided an initial outline of the proposed changes to attendance boundaries, grade configurations and program offerings for each of the District’s elementary schools as part of the program review at the elementary level.
Blog from March 4, 2025
Report 25-022, Comprehensive Report on the Elementary Program Review: Revised Proposal related to Program Model and Support for Students, Attendance Boundaries and Grade Configurations: Provided a synopsis of the elementary program review to date, including proposed changes outlined in previous reports, highlighting any additional changes or adjustments that have been made in response to extensive feedback received through the active community engagement campaign. This revised report was informed by three key information sources (public consultation, relevant research and District-level data), a revised program model, including proposed changes to support for students through specialized program classes.
Blog from April 8, 2025
Report 25-023, Elementary Program Review, Implementation Planning Overview: A high-level overview of the processes that would be implemented, should the Elementary Program Review be approved. It is important to note, with these operational elements, this is a high-level overview of the implementation plans; individual cases are not captured within these plans.
Blog from April 15, 2025
Throughout the process, staff conducted district-wide community consultation, including online surveys, public meetings, and focus groups, gathering input from thousands of parents, caregivers, staff, students, and community members. Feedback from these consultations has been integral in shaping the proposed changes and can be found in Report 24-101, Appendix C; Report 25-022, Appendix B; and Report 25-025, Appendix C. In addition to these consultations, I attended the school councils and hosted three community combined sessions with the school councils to elicit feedback specifically from the Zone 12 community.
Report 25-025, Elementary Program Review Final Recommendations, brings forward for discussion the recommendations from conducting the Elementary Program Review, including proposed changes to elementary program pathways, specialized program classes, school attendance boundaries and grade configurations. The key recommendations include:
Program Structure: Starting September 2026, the OCDSB plans to implement two primary elementary programs for Grades 1 to 8: Enhanced English and French Immersion. This change involves phasing out the Middle French Immersion and Alternative programs as current cohorts complete Grade 8.
Specialized Program Classes: The review recommends phasing out certain specialized program classes, including the Gifted Program - Primary, Language Learning Disability Program, and Learning Disabilities Specialized Intervention Program, as students transition out of these programs.
School Configurations: Adjustments to elementary schools’ grade configurations, attendance boundaries, and program offerings are proposed to take effect in September 2026. These changes aim to improve program accessibility and quality.
Amendments
During the discussion Trustees brought forward amendments to the recommendations in the report.
I voted in favour of an amendment that a Trustee brought forward to add a recommendation (timestamp: 28:34):
THAT a new item D be added as follows:
D. THAT the transition framework, outlined in section 13 of Report 25-025 grant all requests for exemptions provided:
The school still has the program the student would otherwise be enrolled in; and
The Pupil Accommodation Review Guidelines are met; and
There is space, and program viability, at both the send and receiving school.
The amendment carried.
I voted in against of an amendment that a Trustee brought forward to add a recommendation that follows recommendation C (timestamp: 1:36:54):
A French Immersion Program, with an attendance boundary for matching that of the JK to 6 English boundary, be offered at each of the following schools:
Arch Street
Covent Glen
Hawthorn
North Gower/Marlborough (removed through a friendly amendment)
And that any overlap be removed from the French Immersion Boundary from each of the adjacent schools.
The amendment failed.
Questions and Comments
During the discussion, I asked the following questions (timestamp 2:50:00):
Question: Specifically referring to childcare, including the Extended Day Program, are the concerns or questions that have been raised about childcare different from regular questions about the childcare offerings on a yearly basis.
Answer: No.
Question: Since commencing the Elementary Program Review in April 2024, I have asked on numerous occasions if the Elementary Program Review was driven by the budget and cost savings. I have consistently received the answer that it is not, it has been driven by the feedback from the strategic planning session, educational pedagogy, and it was the right thing to do in the name of addressing inequities in our system. The cost savings was not a goal.
Last week my colleague asked after the Director’s Briefing which included information on the Ministry’s financial overview of the District “are we doing this program review because of budgetary concerns?” and the response given, in summary, was that the work of the Elementary Program Review does not impact the upcoming school year, rather the 2026 to 2027 school year, but it does address the structural deficits in our system that will lead to cost-savings.
Amongst the goals I already previously listed why have we not been upfront with our community that one of the goals, whether short-term or long-term?
Answer: There is always a reality no matter what we do that tie to our budget. We have a budget and action it as part of our resources. We must adhere to a budget, and it will always link to the budget.
The work of the budgetary deliberation is not directly correlated to the Elementary Program Review. Running quad tracks at the Elementary Program does not address the need and is an ongoing structural deficit. Everything we do is tied to budget, but the Elementary Program Review is tied to equity of access to programs and quality of programming across the system. Budget is always a part of the decision-making but it was not the driver.
During the discussion, I made the following comments about the Elementary Program Review:
I appreciate all of the work that has gone into the Elementary Program Review. I think it has been much needed, and it is critical for us to look inwards on ways we can change and evolve.
Throughout the consultations, I have said our messaging about community schools has been a very difficult message to deliver because defining community is very difficult and different to every single person. Also, the goals of standardized programs, similar grade structure throughout our schools and reconfiguring boundaries are in conflict with one another. There are compromises that needed to be made.
There are some areas of the District that heavily value access to French Immersion in their schools and some areas of the District that heavily value a higher grade structure in their schools, this inherently has come in conflict with one another and this is how we are seeing inequities throughout our system.
I also personally believe that during the community consultations that one of the underlying drivers or goals of this review was to find cost-efficiencies throughout our system. I think our community and honestly us know that was an underlying reason for undertaking this review and I wish we would have been upfront about the driver. I think post the Elementary Program Review it will be key for us to look back at the lessons we learned through public engagement and what we would change in the consultations.
With all of that said, I do not think this report is perfect, I think there are some heartbreaking choices we are faced with including the cancellation of the Alternative Program that does bring a much needed community to its students. I will say I cannot support the cancellation of both programs, and recommendation b, the cancellation of the Specialized Program Classes in the report.
However; I do see some very big successes in this report. There are schools within my zone and across the District that will be getting a French Immersion program that did not previously have one before and there are also schools that the students adore that are getting increased grade structure so they can stay longer in the schools. I
I have said that I believe the enemy of good is perfection, and I truly do not want to miss the opportunity to bring some of these wins to our system. To make change we have to start somewhere, I believe this is a start but not a finale in addressing inequities.
Recommendations and Votes
I voted in favour of the recommendation that:
Effective September 2026, two elementary programs, Enhanced English and French Immersion, as described in Report 25-025, be offered for students in grades 1 to 8: Enhanced English and French Immersion.
Middle French Immersion be phased out over time as the last cohort of Grade 4 students entering the program in September 2026 completes Grade 8.
Alternative be phased out over time as the last cohort of JK students entering the program in September 2025 completes Grade 8.
The recommendations were carried.
I voted against the recommendation that:
Each of the following Specialized Program Classes: Gifted Program - Primary, Language Learning Disability Program and Learning Disabilities Specialized Intervention Program, be phased out as students leave the program;
The recommendation failed.
I voted in favour of the recommendation that:
Effective September 2026, elementary schools’ grade configurations, attendance boundaries and program offerings will be revised as outlined in Report 25-025 and Appendices A and B to Report 25-025, including site-specific transitional provisions.
The recommendation was carried.
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 Committee of the Whole Meeting on May 6, 2025
Agenda for the Committee of the Whole Meeting on May 6, 2025
Report 25-025, Elementary Program Review: Recommendations Related to Program Model and Support for Students, Attendance Boundaries and Grade Configurations
Appendix A, Updated School Configuration Index
Appendix B, Proposed Attendance Boundary Maps
Appendix C, Consultation Report
