I will be focusing on consultation and providing space for community values to be brought into the conversation. I anticipate this next term to be challenging with tighter budgets and edicts from the province which may challenge the OCDSB’s ability to honour local hopes for public education.
This last term I pushed the envelope by communicating with my constituents with a direct mailer and was challenged for doing so. I also persevered in finding a way to convene a meeting with the many newcomers effected by the Rideau HS closure and arranged for busing so they could attend meetings including the Board Office so they could give a delegation. This next term I will continue to find ways to include more voices on Board decisions.
This past term I was not satisfied with the effect at the board level in addressing some of the achievement issues we were seeing. Having lost faith I have started to collect the School Improvement Plans (SIP) and the EQAO results of the schools in my zone. Asking for the SIP caused the District to evaluate the lack of this process. Now that there is once again a SIP being produced my next initiative is to make sure that the SIP reflects what parents would like to see and then monitor to make sure they are achieving the expected results.
A big item for the Alta Vista part of my zone will be the delayed but still expected Accommodation Review. The experience of the Rideau HS closure process taught me valuable lessons. Lessons that I will use to get out in front of, in my opinion, the over control of the process by the school board. I submitted my recommendations to the Education Ministry on the update Pupil Accommodation Review Guide (PARG). Not surprisingly the more robust consultation I recommended was not reflected at the provincial level. However I’m hoping that the OCDSB will update their policy and I will certainly be bring forward my recommendations for more time and expanded community input.