There has been a lot of media coverage about overcrowded OCDSB elementary schools lately. In part this results from outside influences -- the Harris government using the funding formula to get school boards to close schools, and then the McGuinty government increasing the need for space by capping the size of primary classes and then doubling the number of JK and SK spaces needed through the all day learning initiative. Internally it is the board that sets attendance boundaries and situates programs (special education, French immersion) in schools. In addition, parents have been choosing French immersion for their children in growing numbers and this skews school enrolments.
The board is now considering stop gap measures for next September and will need a longer range solution for the following school year. Downtown, the McNabb school building could be re-opened. A JK class or a grade 6 class could be moved from one building to another. Stop gap indeed! But there are severe restrictions to more significant moves because many downtown schools are old, have small playground areas, and can therefore neither accept additions nor portable classrooms. Also, parents and students like the schools they are in. Someone else should move.
Here's a suggestion that no one has put forward. Re-open the Ottawa Technical High School building at 440 Albert Street, but re-open it as an academic grades 7-12 school. (Gleebsgar Academy?) Divide the downtown into three grades 7-12 attendance areas, the other two being Glebe and Lisgar. With some judicious phasing in (perhaps only grades 7-9 or grades 7-10 students directed to the right school in the first year), the needed space in elementary schools will appear. All of the elementary buildings will be JK-6 schools.
The board is now considering stop gap measures for next September and will need a longer range solution for the following school year. Downtown, the McNabb school building could be re-opened. A JK class or a grade 6 class could be moved from one building to another. Stop gap indeed! But there are severe restrictions to more significant moves because many downtown schools are old, have small playground areas, and can therefore neither accept additions nor portable classrooms. Also, parents and students like the schools they are in. Someone else should move.
Here's a suggestion that no one has put forward. Re-open the Ottawa Technical High School building at 440 Albert Street, but re-open it as an academic grades 7-12 school. (Gleebsgar Academy?) Divide the downtown into three grades 7-12 attendance areas, the other two being Glebe and Lisgar. With some judicious phasing in (perhaps only grades 7-9 or grades 7-10 students directed to the right school in the first year), the needed space in elementary schools will appear. All of the elementary buildings will be JK-6 schools.
