Committee of the Whole: September 10, 2024
The Committee of the Whole meeting for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on September 10, 2024, with me as chair. Staff brought forward three reports for discussion.
Report 24-101 brought forward the first update from the Elementary Program Review. This report provides a summary of the input received through the spring consultation related to the Elementary Program Review. During the discussion, I asked the following questions:
Question: My colleague previously asked if we were prepared to hear from the community and not make changes if that is what the community said. What stood out for me from this report were any clear asks for adding or removing specific programming, if the Director of Education has a different interpretation (timestamp: 1:38:00).
Answer: You must wait for the report to go live in October. We are still working on some of the analysis. The Director also used the spring season to listen, and the input will help us move forward.
Comments: One of the things I am envisioning coming forward in this next report as well is if we are proposing new models whatever that may look like, addressing the feedback that we might have heard in support of those models. We need to clearly define why we are making that decision.
I previously said when we were debating the consultation report that there are different levels of engagement. We need to be transparent in our decision-making and be transparent in why programs need to change. It is not to make everyone happy with us it is to be transparent in the decision-making process.
Report 24-102, brought forward an update from the first year of the implementation of the Strategic Plan for 2023 to 2027. The strategic plan is the foundation of the District’s multi-year planning strategy and outlines the vision, objectives and key priorities of the school district for a four-year period. The three strategic priorities in the Strategic Plan are learning, well-being, and social responsibility. The baseline for numbers and percentages provided is the provincial achievement data for the 2022 to 2023 school year. A couple of key indicators continue to stick out to me as areas to address in this upcoming school year:
Throughout the report, we continue to see students who identify as Indigenous, Black, multilingual learners, gender diverse, students with a special education need, students residing in low-income neighbourhoods, and students reporting certain disabilities continue to be underserved.
Students’ ratings for reading and writing tend to be high in lower grades.
Destreaming efforts have improved access to math academic pathways for underserved groups.
The OCDSB Safe Schools Reporting tool saw an increase to 475 reports compared to 173 reports.
Report 24-105, was originally brought forward an update from the first year of the implementation of the Equity of Access to Technology Plan. Due to time constraints, this report was deferred to the next Committee of the Whole Meeting. I voted in favour of the deferral.
As per our bylaws, at 10:30 pm the Chair shall interrupt any item under discussion to call a vote on whether to continue the meeting. The meeting will adjourn unless two-thirds of those Board members present for the vote cast a vote in favour of continuing the meeting. I voted in favour of going past 10:30 pm, the vote failed.
As a result, we could not get to new business for which it was identified that one of our community members wished to raise a question about the decision-making process behind withdrawing from Capital Pride.
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 September 10, 2024
Agenda for the Board Meeting on September 10, 2024
Report 24-101, Consultation Report – Elementary Program Review
Report 24-102, Strategic Plan (2023 to 2024) Annual Update
Report 24-105, Equity of Access Technology
