Special Board Meeting: May 13, 2025

The Special Board Meeting for the Ottawa-Carleton District Board took place on May 13, 2024. Staff brought forward 1 report with 3 recommendations for discussion.

Coming out of the Committee of the Whole meeting on May 6, 2025, I voted in favour of Report 25-025, Elementary Program Review Final Recommendations. 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 from May 6, 2025. 

During the discussion, I voted in favour of an amendment that a Trustee brought forward to add a recommendation:

E. THAT the Director be instructed to prepare a report for presentation during the Fall of 2027 and before November 30, 2027, for the Board, in consultation with ASAC and the Alternative Community, to determine the viability of modifying the phase-out of the Alternative Program.

This report should include the following:

• Geographic site distribution.

• The possibility of dual or multi-tracking students.

• Update of the tenets informed by various alternative education pedagogies.

• The name for the Alternative program.

• A cost-effective communications plan.

• The merits and benefits of the continuation of the alternative program.

• A detailed costing for the Alternative program relative to other programs.

• Models used for transportation for similar programs in other school districts in Ontario.

During the discussion, I asked the following questions (timestamp: 42:36):

• Question: If we produce a report, do staff envision that there could be different ways to we deliver education? Do they see that they could learn different ways to evolve and innovate to attract more students? 

  Answer: Our greatest gift that we offer as a District is that we offer dual-track English and French, which is not limited by numbers. That is our greatest strength. The tenants have become integrated in different aspects of our offerings. Our mindset needs to be serving the students in front of us.

• Question: Would the mover of the motion be okay with an outcome that recommended that the tenants be absorbed into the standardized classroom?

  Answer: If a report were produced that recommended absorbing the tenants into the mainstream classroom, that would be excellent. At the heart of it, the parents or guardians who enrol their children in the alternative program are looking for innovative practices to enrol their children where they are at. 

The amendment failed. The recommendations in the report were 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.

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Key links 

• Video for the Special Board Meeting on May 13, 2025

• Agenda for the Special Board Meeting on May 13, 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