OttawaA surprise announcement that the supervisor of Ottawa’s largest school board will cancel a contentious elementary program review has divided parents and prompted an outcry from both sidelined trustees and the New Democratic Party.Planned Elementary Program Review had made needed savings, according to sidelined trusteesParents and trustees left with mixed emotions after cancellation of OCDSB elementary program reviewBack in May, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees approved a plan to make major changes to elementary programs involving alternative schools and French immersion. The provincially appointed supervisor of the board halted those incoming changes on Tuesday. A surprise announcement that the supervisor of Ottawa’s largest school board will cancel a contentious elementary program review has divided parents and prompted an outcry from both sidelined trustees and the New Democratic Party.On Tuesday, the provincially appointed supervisor of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) Robert Plamondon told parents he was cancelling a trustee-approved plan that aimed to align programs across different schools to give students access to the same learning, saying it would be “disruptive.”That view was embraced by some parents on Wednesday.”You can’t overhaul an entire education system or elementary system within one of the biggest cities in the province overnight,” said Kayla Fernet, chair of the Kars on the Rideau School Council. The elementary program review (EPR) had proposed changes to grade divisions and zoning, meaning some Ottawa students would have had to change schools starting next year.That “didn’t really make a lot of sense,” Fernet said.Ashley House, chair of the Severn Parent Council, said parents had previously felt ‘ambushed’ by proposals to rezone school boundaries. (Nathan Fung/CBC)Ashley House, chair of the Severn Parent Council, said parents had previously felt “ambushed” by proposals to rezone school boundaries.”It was a huge sigh of relief yesterday when we received that email,” she told CBC. “It was too widespread, it was too fast, too many families, too many students were going to be affected by these changes.”House said she was “excited” to see more details of the supervisor’s plan. “We’re hopeful that we’re going to be listened to and included in that process as well,” she said.But Anthony Wong, co-chair of the Ottawa Carleton Assembly of School Councils, cautioned that little was known about what would replace the EPR. “Be careful what you wish for,” Wong told CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning. “It’s a very vague memo, and it doesn’t say very much as to what is really going on.” ‘No consultation’While trustees had previously been available to speak with concerned parents, Wong said Plamondon has not been responsive.Education Minister Paul Calandra appointed Plamondon in June when he placed the OCDSB under supervision, citing “financial mismanagement” under trustees. Since then, Plamondon has not given media interviews and the OCDSB has not explained why. “There’s a lack of openness and lack of transparency and accountability,” Wong said. In Tuesday’s announcement, Plamondon said he was cancelling the EPR after “extensive consultation with parents,” an assertion Wong challenged. “There was no consultation,” said Wong. “It was just a complete blank across the months.””There’s cause for concern here for all parents,” Chandra Pasma, the MPP for Ottawa West-Nepean and the NDP’s education critic, said in a video posted on social media.”As a parent, I never received any information about a consultation,” she said. “Who did Bob Plamondon then consult?”Sarah Boardman, the parent of a child attending Churchill Alternative School, said she had reached out to Plamondon three times without receiving a substantive response. “I know that a lot of parents sent him emails. I’m not aware of the parents that received a response other than, ‘Thank you for your e-mail,'” she said.The cancellation of the EPR appeared calculated to undermine the system of elected trustees, Boardman said.”This feels like a very heavy-handed approach from a bureaucracy coming down and saying … ‘We’re gonna make the trustees look bad so people don’t have as much problem with losing the trustees,’” she said. Last month, Calandra said he was open to the elimination of trustees. ‘More cuts are coming’Trustees had been set up to fail, said Boardman, who lobbied against the elimination of alternative schools. “They had to make some cuts, they had to make horrible decisions,” she said. “I don’t agree with the way that they made them, but I feel terrible that they were forced to do that by a government that obviously doesn’t care.”Trustees who have been sidelined by Plamondon said the EPR was approved with a view to passing a balanced budget by saving on items such as school buses.With the EPR cancelled, it was not clear where savings would be found, trustee Cathryne Milburn said, leaving her concerned for the future of special education classes and other programs. “I don’t think this is the end. I think more cuts are coming,” Milburn told CBC. Trustee Lyra Evans said that with her position sidelined, Ottawa parents have lost a voice to advocate on their behalf. “When you lose your elected trustee, you lose accountability,” she told CBC. “You lose the ability to say these policies are not in the best interest of our community.”ABOUT THE AUTHORCampbell MacDiarmid is a reporter with the CBC Ottawa bureauWith files from Nathan Fung
Cancelled overhaul of OCDSB elementary programs divides parents
