Trustees vote to keep OCDSB's special needs programs intact
Board to decide on boundaries, alternative schools at meeting next week
A proposal to phase out several special needs programs offered by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has been voted down.
At a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night, school board trustees voted 11 to 1 against phasing out 26 specialized classes for students with learning disabilities, severe language learning disabilities and gifted students. As a result, the proposal will not go forward when trustees conduct a final vote on a wider elementary program review on May 13.
When details of that overhaul were first made public earlier this year, board staff recommended phasing out 39 specialized classes and reallocating teachers and educational assistants to meet student needs in regular classrooms in neighbourhood schools.
"We are all aware that special education is overspent in our district and some of that is a result of the number of specialized program classes we have," said Kate Stoudt, the superintendent who oversees special education, told trustees Tuesday.
"It doesn't mean we don't all want to spend the money in this way. The part we have to evaluate is [whether] we are spending the money in the best way we possibly can."
After facing pushback from the community, staff updated the plan in early April and preserved 13 classes. As of Tuesday night, it appears the remaining 26 classes will also stay and specialized classes for children with complex needs will no longer form part of the OCDSB's big overhaul.
Throughout the debate about elementary schools, 103 classes would have continued regardless, including those for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, have autism, or require behavioural intervention.
Speaking to CBC after the meeting, OCDSB director of education Pino Buffone said the vote was "clear direction" from trustees to continue supporting those specialized programs.
Trustee Lyra Evans was among those who voted against the recommendation to cut the special needs programs. She told CBC it's important for the OCDSB to continue supporting students with special needs.
"Special education students are among our highest-need group of students. They are the group that is often least able to advocate on their own behalf and they are the group that is most likely to be struggling at the back of the classroom if there is not adequate support," Evans said.
Alternative schools, boundaries to go to a final vote
While the proposed changes to specialized classes were nixed, trustees approved three other recommendations as part of the elementary program review, to be discussed further when the board reconvenes next week.
Those recommendations including streamlining programs to enhance English and French immersion, as well as changes to school boundaries and grade configurations — steps Buffone called "a huge step forward for the district."
The recommendation to phase out the alternative school program, which place less emphasis on grades and focus more on letting students learn at their own pace, was also passed. That came as a disappointment to some parents who watched the meeting from the second floor gallery and applauded when trustees spoke out in defence of the program.
Trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth said she opposed most of the recommendations, including one that would leave a small number of schools with English programming only and no option for French immersion.
"I'm against the cuts to special education, I'm against the closure of alternative schools, and I'm strongly against them leaving the most disadvantaged schools without dual-track," she said, referring to schools that offer programs in both languages.
"I wanted to be able to look children in the eye and my constituents in the eye and say that we made it better, that we actually addressed disparities that we've acknowledged year after year and decade after decade, and we haven't done that."
WATCH | Trustees vote to save OCDSB special needs programs from the chopping block:
Parent Laura MacKenzie told CBC she plans to continue advocating to keep the OCDSB's alternative school program running.
"We believe that alternative programs and alternative schools need to exist for diverse educational choice in Ottawa," she said.
Another recommendation to keep students in their current program whenever possible also passed.
The recommendations that were passed Tuesday are now set to go for a final vote at special board meeting May 13.
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With files from Kate Porter