OttawaParents with children in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) are divided over the province’s new mandate ordering the board to open a special office to address their concerns about their children’s education Province has mandated school boards under supervision to open offices to address concerns over educationLiam Baker · CBC News · Posted: Nov 14, 2025 11:28 AM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Ontario’s Ministry of Education has ordered the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to open a ‘student and family support’ office in January to deal with parents’ concerns about their children’s education. Some parents say trustees were already performing that function. (CBC)Parents with children in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) are divided over the province’s new mandate ordering the board to open a special office to address their concerns about their children’s education.The OCDSB, along with the four other school boards currently under provincial supervision, was ordered Thursday to open a “student and family support” office in January. The province has offered little additional information about the initiative, leaving some parents in Ottawa with questions.Kate Dudley-Logue, a parent of two children attending schools within the OCDSB, said she’s skeptical about how the office will be staffed, and by whom.”Are these people going to know much about their local school boards?” she asked. “Our trustees, they know their communities, know their families, and they know the schools within the zones they represent.”According to a news release from the province, the move is meant to make school boards more accountable to parents.However, Sachin Maharaj, an assistant professor of educational leadership policy and program evaluation at the University of Ottawa, questions the ministry’s approach.”It seems like the government is trying to address the problems of parents getting lost in the education bureaucracy by creating more bureaucracy,” Maharaj told CBC. “Previously, this was a function being performed by many different school trustees who could take those concerns, advocate on behalf of them, try to find a resolution, and then bring that collective knowledge to its oversight function.”Some parents see potentialSome parents are greeting the news with more optimism, however, and say trustees weren’t always receptive to their concerns prior to the provincial takeover.OCDSB parent Shannon Worek said the new office might be an improvement.”You didn’t always have a consistent response from different trustees where they might have different experiences, or there might be differences in terms of their responsiveness,” she said. “[The support office] could also help to consolidate some of those concerns that occur not just in one area of the city, but kind of across all sorts of different schools, and be able to highlight some of those trends.”Some are also questioning the financial implications of the province’s mandate, especially given Education Minister Paul Calandra’s previous concerns about fiscal mismanagement at school boards.Robert Plamondon is the provincially appointed supervisor of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. With the OCDSB under provincial supervision, trustees currently have no formal role in the school board. (Cameron Mahler/CBC)Financial feasibilityIn June, the ministry appointed Robert Plamondon to supervise the OCDSB, a move the province said was aimed at prioritizing direct support for students. The board had presided over four straight years of financial deficit, and the province was predicting a fifth this year.The board’s elected trustees remain sidelined with no formal function. Outside of approving budgets, trustees are traditionally responsible for overseeing the board’s director of education and setting its policies, all of which has now been taken over by Plamondon. Donna Blackburn, the OCDSB’s trustee for Barrhaven, questioned the financial viability of the new office.”Trustees are paid less than minimum wage to do the job of answering constituents’ concerns,” she said. “Obviously, those people will be making a lot more than minimum wage.”In the ministry’s announcement, Calandra said the support offices are part of a broader plan to overhaul the “outdated school board governance model.” Previously, he told CBC he’s open to eliminating school board trustees altogether in the province. For Blackburn, this latest mandate is a signal the province is moving in that direction.”Sadly, I think the writing is on the wall,” she said.ABOUT THE AUTHORLiam Baker is an associate producer and reporter for CBC Ottawa. He also reports and produces stories on Inuit Nunangat for CBC Iqaluit. Previously, he’s reported for CBC Yukon, CBC Thunder Bay, CBC Toronto’s Enterprise unit. You can reach him at liam.baker@cbc.caWith files from Emma Weller
Parents divided over OCDSB’s new ‘student and family support’ office
