Parents seek answers from OCDSB supervisor

The province appointed a supervisor for Ottawa’s largest school board, but parents can’t reach him. CTV’s Katie Griffin asks, “Where is Robert Plamondon?”

Parents with children in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board say they’re searching for answers from the schoolboard’s supervisor after he scrapped the controversial overhaul of elementary programs earlier this week.

On Tuesday, Robert Plamondon, who was appointed by the province to oversee the OCDSB in June, announced he would be cancelling the trustee-approved plan that would have seen changes to grade structures, school boundaries and elementary programs.

Now, some parents are saying their questions about the upcoming changes, have gone unanswered.

“What’s being rolled back? What’s being what’s being changed? Where’s the impact? This is not clear,” said Anthony Wong, a parent who co-chairs the Ottawa Carleton Assembly of School Councils.

“Right now, there’s no opportunity for a parent to come up and speak in public for the record to say ‘look, we disagree, or we agree.’ You send an email and for the most part, from what I’ve heard, it bounces back with just a simple possible acknowledgment.”

Wong says he would like to hold a town Hall with Plamondon so that parents could hear specifics about the new plan the supervisor is bringing in.

The Elementary Program Review would have required around 1,500 more students than normal to change schools in September 2026. It would have also seen changes to the grade structures at 18 schools and alterations to the boundaries at dozens of schools.

Many parents protested the changes, expressing concern that the new programs would cause disruption to their children’s education.

Plamondon said in the statement on Tuesday that the program would be replaced with an approach that “doesn’t disrupt students and is reflective of community feedback.”

Earlier this week, Ontario’s minister of education also ordered an end to live streams of school board committee meetings.

According to Education Minister Paul Calandra, the decision was made “to maintain meetings that are productive, professional, and focused on improving student success and achievement, rather than serving as a forum for political commentary.”

Cathy Varrette, the parent of a son with special needs, livestreamed the Special Education Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday night but was asked to stop. After a brief recess, the meeting resumed.

“You’re not allowed to do it by the ministry, but I am the public,” Varrette said.

“I am allowed to do that so I can broadcast it to my folks at home that are sitting there really wanting to participate.”

Varrette says removing the livestream option limits participation.

“We feel left out. We feel put aside. We feel like pawns in a bigger scheme,” she said.

The OCDSB told CTV News Plamondon “will not be doing interviews.”

“Mr. Plamondon’s priorities are student success and well-being, staff engagement, resource optimization and financial stability. To fulfill his role, the Supervisor engages in active and ongoing consultation with students, parents, staff, unions and other community partner,” the OCDSB said.

“If he’s been consulting, I don’t know who it’s been with, but it certainly hasn’t been widespread consultation with parents,” said Chandra Pasma, Ottawa West-Nepean MPP and the NDP’s education critic.

“And instead of coming forward and telling us, here’s going to be the process, here’s how I’m going to engage you and listen to you, here’s how I’m going to be accountable to you for the decisions that I make, he seems to be busy hiding.”

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App