Special Board Meeting and Committee of the Whole: April 2, 2024

Written By Cathryne Milburn

The Special Board Meeting and the Committee of the Whole for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board took place on April 2, 2024.

Special Board Meeting

Trustees brought forward one policy resolution with one recommendation for discussion. I voted in favour of the recommendations in the Notice of Motion for the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association to establish a 2SLGBTQIA+ Trustees' Caucus to provide community-specific feedback and recommendations to the board. This motion proposes that the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association propose the creation of a 2SLGBTQIA+ caucus to make recommendations, provide feedback, and share the lived experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ members with the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association. These recommendations were carried.

Committee of the Whole

Staff brought forward two reports with one recommendation for discussion with me as chair.

Elementary Program Review

I voted in favour of the recommendations in Report 24-052 for an Elementary Program Review. This report sought the approval of the Board of Trustees to initiate an elementary program review that will commence in Spring 2024. At the elementary level, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board offers six programs:

  1. Full-Day Kindergarten: 50% English and 50% French.

  2. English with Core French: Starts in Grade 1 with 40 minutes of Core French per day.

  3. Early French Immersion:

    • Starts in Grade 1 with 80% French and 20% English

    • Grades 2 to 6 with 60% French and 40% English

    • Grades 7 to 8 with 50% French and 50% English

  4. Middle French Immersion

    • Starts in Grade 4 with 66% French and 34% English

    • Grades 7 to 8 with 50% French and 50% English

  5. Alternative Program

    • Kindergarten to Grade 6 in four schools.

    • Grades 7 to 8 in one school.

    • 40 minutes of Core French per day.

  6. Ottawa Carleton Virtual School: Starts in Grade 1 with 50% French and 50% English

Along with the six program offerings, there is a continuum of special education supports including 146 Specialized Program Classes which accommodate approximately 2,000 students system wide. An elementary program review will allow staff to examine the delivery model for all six programs, special education, English as a Second Language development and all other elementary offerings to determine the possible outcomes:

  • Maintaining the status quo: The review may affirm the effectiveness of certain aspects of the current program model, leading to minimal or no changes.

  • Adjustments, enhancements, or restructuring: The review may identify opportunities to adjust or enhance the current program model based on feedback or input from stakeholders and analysis of data and best practices. This could range from minor adjustments to the status quo or a major restructuring of elementary program offerings.

  • Exploration of new models for elementary programming: The review may prompt exploration of other program models or approaches that better align with the needs and priorities of the community.

During the discussion, I asked the following questions (timestamp 1:02:25):

  • Question: When the community and especially staff hear Program Review, one of the first concerns I hear is layoffs, can staff please address these concerns?
    Answer: That is not the intent of the program review, the intent is to have the best trajectory for our students. We are in staff shortages right now and we need staff. On a practical front, this is not in the cards. The intention is to address some equity issues within our student population.

  • Question: We continue to talk about the struggles to hire Educational Assistants or specialized staff in the special education field. Are there any concerns we would like to address here
    Answer: Several specialized programs in place will be reviewed and students that are served in an integrated setting including those in special education. Staff want to listen to the community before determining next steps.

  • Comments on the need for engagement with the community (timestamp 1:05:43): Why do we need to conduct community engagement and are we willing to take no as an answer? The point of the engagement is to listen to our community and help them ease into the change. If we do not make our communities feel heard they will be more angry and scared than if we start addressing concerns at the onset.

With the approval of the program review, the next step is the community engagement consultations from April to June that includes town hall meetings, surveys, focus groups, online discussions, zone meetings hosted by Trustees, and school engagement days held across all schools in the District to involve students and families in the review process. More information will be released on the engagement platform among other distribution. The community should keep their eyes out for more information. The recommendations were carried.

Key links

Cathryne Milburn

By day I am passionate about diversity, inclusion, and communications. By night I am passionate about education, student well-being, and student achievement.

https://cathrynemilburn.com/
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