OCDSB to release revised elementary school boundaries

Ottawa’s largest school board, embroiled in controversy over proposed elementary school boundary changes, plans to release revised proposals and a school locator on Friday or early next week.

The school locator is on online tool allowing families to input their address to find their child’s community school.

When the current locator was released on Feb. 28 outlining proposed boundary changes as part of a wide-ranging elementary program review, it set off a firestorm and sparked pushback from parents, ranging from email campaigns to complaints to the Ontario Ombudsman.

The new locator will show adjustments the boundaries that have been under revised proposals, also to be released on Friday or shortly after.

“Our planning department has been working quite literally night and day to make adjustments, where that’s possible,” director of education Pino Buffone told trustees. 

Buffone said he wanted to release the revised proposals in sync with the new school locator so people will be able to “see where they now stand.” 

If there is a delay so the revised proposals can be released at the same time as the school locator, it will be worth it, he said.

Public feedback was being collected until midnight on March 25 through online and in-person consultation. The process has been valuable and “every piece of information that we receive will be considered,” said Buffone.

Buffone told trustees he wants to provide some time for the board of trustees as a governance body and members of the public to have an opportunity to comment on the revised proposals before providing the board with a series of recommendations for the board of trustees to consider over the month of April. 

“We’re working diligently to bring a report forward that reflects what we heard in the feedback. We’ve always said that this wasn’t a fait accompli, that we would be looking at what we heard,” he said. 

Trustee Lyra Evans failed in an attempt to add a trustee discussion about feedback to the school board agenda.

Under the Education Act, trustees can’t have that kind of discussion during in camera meetings. She’s still hoping there is still time for that kind of public discussion.

Trustee Lyra, who prefers to go by her first name, said she has heard from people who oppose the proposed boundary changes and closing alternative schools, as well as from those who believe the proposed changes will benefit their child’s school.

“I have people who say ‘This is great. We want greater equity. We want French immersion in our school.’”

But she adds that it is important to make the decision soon. There’s a window of opportunity for renovations in the summer while students are out of school, for example.

“Long periods of uncertainty are not good for organizations,” she said.

Meanwhile, Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth said she will be asking to fellow trustees for an extension for the consultation process at the next board meeting on April 8.

“I’m asking for at least four weeks from that date,” she said.

Consultations with families over the past year have focused on the underlying philosophy behind the program changes, but not on the grade configuration changes and school boundaries, she said.

There has not been enough time to figure out how to provide French immersion at every school, as well as respond to community concerns about changes to grade configuration and boundary changes.

She wants to see that the recommendations include French immersion at every disadvantaged school, as well as a proposal that takes the grade configurations and boundary changes into consideration.

But she is also seeking feedback specifically from the most disadvantaged and marginalized populations. Racialized and lower socioeconomic communities are disproportionally affected by the current grade configurations, said Kaplan-Myrth.

“We’re only human beings. How can I consult with everybody on these new proposals and get disadvantaged populations to provide feedback?”