The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is reviewing six schools in Ottawa’s west-central area, a process that could lead to boundary changes, new programs and different grade structures. The schools included in the review are Broadview Public School, Churchill Alternative School, Elmdale Public School, Fisher Park/Summit Alternative Public School, Hilson Avenue Public School and Woodroffe Avenue Public School. Amanda Case, co-chair of Churchill Parent Council, has two children at Churchill, where the alternative program is being phased out and the school is under capacity. Meanwhile, just down the road, schools like Broadview are over capacity. “It didn’t really make sense to us that some schools would be over capacity, when a school just down the street is struggling to fill classrooms,” Case said. Case is part of a grassroots effort led by parent councils pushing for the review. She says the goal is to better balance enrolment and bring new programming into schools that need it. “The idea with the proposal is now that the board is transitioning to two programs, we would redraw boundaries to allow new programming to enter Churchill, alleviate overcrowding at Elmdale and Broadview, and also allow French immersion to come into Hilson,” she said. “So, we could again, alleviate that overcrowding and make sure that all of these schools offered a similar educational experience.” The review comes after the board scrapped a much larger elementary program and boundary overhaul last year. But ongoing program changes, including eliminating middle French immersion and alternative programs, are still raising questions about the future of some schools like Churchill and Hilson. “Both of those schools need the addition of new programming in order to remain viable and vibrant,” Case said. But the full plan has not yet been released, which some parents say is making it difficult to provide meaningful feedback or plan ahead. “There has been a clear lack of transparency from the board since we lost our trustees,” said Broadview Public School parent Katy de Sousa. “The information that we’re getting from the board itself comes in dribs and drabs and piecemeal and is a lot of consultants speak and not plain what is happening.” There are also questions about how and when programs like early French immersion would be phased in. Chandra Pasma, NDP MPP for Ottawa West–Nepean, says families need more details before decisions are made. “When the supervisor is already talking about changes but not sharing details with parents, that’s not a process that’s fully transparent or fully engaging the community,” Pasma said. For Case, the hope is that any changes keep families together. “It was very important to us that children remain at the schools they had previously been attending so they get grandfathered in and that families are not going to be divided,” she said. CTV News reached out to the OCDSB but was denied an interview. The proposal is expected to be released May 6, the same day as a public consultation meeting. A final decision is anticipated in June.
