Parents pack emotional meeting as board ponders west Ottawa school closures
It was an often emotional meeting in a packed assembly hall at Sir Robert Borden High School as parents lined up at microphones to make the case to keep their schools open.
Parents expressed cynicism about the process, concern about the elimination of middle schools, and worry that the accommodations and programming for children with special needs will get lost in the shuffle.
Altogether, seven schools in west Ottawa have been recommended for closure by staff at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to address a growing enrolment problem.
Staff told parents Thursday night there are more than 3,800 vacant student spaces in the "western area review," and that their job was to eliminate more than 2,000 of them.
1st of 2 public meetings
It was the first of two public hearings hosted by the OCDSB before a March 1 vote on which schools will close by September 2017.
The schools recommended for closure by OCDSB staff in the western region include:
- D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate School.
- Greenbank Middle School.
- Leslie Park Public School.
- Grant Alternative School.
- Century Public School.
- Regina Street Public School.
- J.H. Putman Public School.
The chair of the board, Shirley Seward, has told CBC News the consultations could lead to changes to that list, but several parents told a panel of board staff they were skeptical.
"They have a giant binder with all these recommendations and it really seems like a done deal," said Amanda Banford, whose six-year-old daughter attends Leslie Park Public School.
"I am going to fight my hardest to keep my daughter in a school where she belongs but I don't know that I have a chance," she added, holding back tears during an interview outside the meeting room.
In defence of middle schools
A number of parents came out to defend against the closing of J.H. Putman Public School, one of four middle schools on the list.
The school is slightly over capacity at 103 per cent and would have to send its students, who have already graduated from elementary school, back down to elementary school.
Teacher Gail Soffer said elementary schools simply don't have the resources and programming the kids have already been receiving at middle school, including art studios, labs and counselling services.
Soffer has been working in middle schools since 1979 and at Putman since 2001.
'There's a personal loss'
"I had a gut reaction on a personal level," she said.
"There's a personal loss."
Soffer received applause following her emotional plea to board staff, explaining she worries about the overall move to shut down middle schools, which have been an important transition for teens, particularly boys, helping to improve graduation rates.
"I don't like how adolescents and their problems and the joys of teaching them are being pushed aside," she added in an interview outside the hall, tears welling up in her eyes.
Concerns for kids with special needs
Parents from a number of schools with programs for children with special needs had concerns about program changes and relocations, including at schools not slated for closure.
"Well, I was crestfallen," said David Grimes about finding out his son's school, Carleton Heights Public School, would see its disability program moved to Bell High School.
Grimes's son is developmentally delayed and has moved to a new school almost every year, following a special program. He's been thriving at Carleton Heights.
"I'm really concerned if we move him again," said Grimes, "so I'm not really comfortable with the way this is playing out."
The board will be having one more public hearing on Jan. 10.
There is also an online consultation where parents have been submitting their thoughts, as well as several meetings of an advisory committee made up of parents from the schools affected by the review.
