OCDSB elementary program revisions suggests changes for over 40 schools
Revisions for a controversial elementary program review at Ottawa’s largest school board includes 11 areas of changes involving over 40 schools.
Some of the most significant changes include eliminating the kindergarten-to Grade 3 and Grade 4 to Grade 8 model, phasing out the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s five alternative schools as well as revising its original boundary recommendations in 11 neighbourhoods.
In some cases, the proposed changes have been reversed, leaving school boundaries, program offerings and grade configurations the same. In others, adjustments were made to the proposed boundaries to preserve traditional community ties within neighbourhoods.
In a regular year, between 6,000 and 8,000 students change schools. The original plan released Feb. 28 projected that an additional 3,000 students would change schools as of September 2026. Under the revised plan, that would be reduced to about 1,500 more students than normal.
“Grandparenting opportunities will likely exist for some of these students, lowering the number further for those who have to transition to new schools,” said a report released Thursday.
Under the revisions, there would be fewer schools with kindergarten to Grade 3 or Grade 4 to 8 grade configurations.
The revised plan includes five single track English-only schools including Arch Street Public School, Convent Glen Elementary School, Dunlop Public School, Hawthorne Public School and North Gower/Marlborough Public School.
Evening Update
The plan also includes two additional single-track FI schools, Pleasant Park Public School and Severn Public School, bringing the total number of school that offer French immersion only to six schools.
The Ottawa neighbourhoods affected by the revisions include:
1. Alta Vista/Elmvale Acres
2. Britannia/Queensway Terrace North and South/Carlingwood
3. Carson Grove/Beaconwood/Beacon Heights
4. Centretown/Centretown West
5. Convent Glen/Chapel Hill/Châteauneuf/Mer Bleu
6. The former Rideau Township
7. Greenboro/South Keys/Sawmill/Blossom Park
8. Highland Park/McKellar Park
9. Kanata North
10. Trend Arlington/Craig Henry/Manordale-Woodvale
11. Wisteria Crescent/Windsor Park/Uplands/Hunt Club
Some of the
In Centretown and Centretown West, staff has reoriented boundaries north and south. That eliminates a controversial proposal to send some students from Severn Avenue Public School to Pinecrest Public School, requiring students to cross Highway 417.
In the Alta Vista area, staff have recommended adding French immersion to Charles Hulse Public School, which did not have immersion.
In the former Rideau Township, the recommendations include that North Gower/Marlborough Public School become a kindergarten to Grade 6 school offering English only and that Kars on the Rideau remain as a dual-track school.
In Kanata North, Carson Grove-Beaconwood-Beacon Heights, and in the east urban community, which has a new elementary school yet to be built, the recommendations include phasing that eliminates the directing of students back and forth from school to school at the Grade 5-6 levels.
In Greenboro, staff has changed boundaries for Roberta Bondar, Robert Bateman, Dunlop Sawmill and Blossom Park.
The report also notes that shifting away from the kindergarten to Grade 3 and Grade 4 to Grade 8 format may increase the risk of small and potentially unsustainable programs and there some situations where Grade 7 and 8 enrolments may not be sustainable in the longer term.
How do the revisions impact students with special needs?
The revisions also include retaining 116 classes for students with special needs that had originally been recommended for cancellation. These include:
• 36 classes for students with autism spectrum disorder
• 12 behaviour intervention program classes
• one class for students who are deaf or hard or hearing
• nine semi-integrated and 25 classes at two specialized sites for students with developmental disabilities
• two dual support program classes
• six junior and six intermediate classes in the general learning program
• four junior classes and six intermediate classes in the gifted program
• two physical support program classes
• seven classes for in the primary special needs program.
Under the revisions, 26 classes will still be phased out, including one primary gifted class, 11 primary and junior classes for children with language learning disabilities and 14 classes in the learning disabilities semi-integrated program.
The school board has extended the time for public feedback. An online survey will be open from until April 24.
(More to come)
