Elementary alternative school parents earn small victory
Posted Feb 19, 2010 By Rosalyn Stevens
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Tweet ThisEMC News - Parents, teachers and school children packed the Ottawa Carleton District School Board's (OCDSB) boardroom recently to hear debate and discussion on the elementary alterative program review, but they'll have to come back on Tuesday (Feb. 23) to hear final decisions.
The board was addressing recommendations stemming from a program review of the elementary alternative program. Staff had suggested that while differences were apparent between the alternative and regular English programs, the seven tenets that make up the alternative school philosophy should be available to all schools in the district.
Original staff recommendations called for a phasing-out of the designated alternative program, and encouragement of other schools to adopt the tenets as desired.
By nearly 11 p.m. the board had not made it through the many amendments to the recommendations moved by the education committee. A continuation meeting was scheduled for the next board meeting, but a time had not yet been determined.
Some parents said there was a small victory, however, as trustees struck down two motions to reintroduce recommendations the committee had already dropped.
"These were the two that were the most threat in terms of the opportunity for expansion of the program," said Churchill Alternative parent Sheri Zelle. "There's still potential, there's future (for the program now)."
The first motion, brought forward by Orleans-Cumberland trustee John Shea called for an "embargo" on the expansion of designated alternative programs. He said all students should have access to these characteristics that make an alternative school, including multi-age groupings in classroom, student led learning, and a non-competitive approach to all aspects of the school.
"We need to make a tough decision to benefit all the students in the district, and not just a privileged few," he said.
However, trustees noted that placing an embargo on expansion of the program would preclude any further board discussion about potential new alternative sites. If a school requested the designation, they said, the discussion would have to take place at the board level already. The motion lost on a vote of 7-5.
The second amendment, which spoke to phasing out the designation of current alternative schools once an accommodation or boundary review was completed. Currently, alternative school boundaries overlap the English-only school boundaries in the area. This approach, trustee Shea said, would promote the community school model for all students. However, no trustees elected to second the motion, effectively removing it before debate could begin.
In discussion the committee recommendations, several amendments were acknowledged. One motion by Kanata North/Kanata South trustee Cathy Curry, who stepped aside as chair of the board for this item, suggested that the schools be considered on par with English-only streams should an accommodation or boundary review take place in their area. Without comment available from planning staff, the board opted to adjourn the meeting until a future date when such staff would be available.
Once a time has been established for the Feb. 23 meeting, further information will be available at www.ocdsb.ca.
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