The ABCs of how Ottawa’s schools are changing
OCDSB approves dozens of changes to public, middle and high schools
Logan Newell-Turner’s school isn’t closing, but as far as the Grade 1 student is concerned, it might as well be.
Next fall, Logan and all the other children from Severn Avenue PS will pack up their backpacks and head to different schools, because Severn is converting into a Frenchimmersion centre.
It’s one of dozens of changes approved this week by the OttawaCarleton District School Board.
Most of the attention has been on the six schools the board voted to close. But thousands of students such as Logan will be affected by program, grade configuration and boundary changes at the 26 schools that were part of the study.
The west-end school shuffle is the board’s response to several factors: Enrolment is declining overall. Buildings aren’t located where they are needed, with some schools half-full and others requiring portables. And the number of children studying in English is dwindling as the popularity of French immersion climbs.
So the squeeze was on for small, English-program schools such as Severn, which has about 160 children using a building that can hold 375. Two other English-only elementary schools, Century and Leslie Park, will close, while a third, Regina Street, only escaped the same fate because trustees agreed to turn it into an alternative school.
Severn was spared closure, but will flip programs to help fulfil the demand by parents to enrol their children in French immersion.
Logan’s father, David NewellTurner, echoes the sentiments of parents who fought to save schools from closing. He’s mourning the end of the era when his son can walk to a school a few minutes from their home.
“Severn is a very small school, full of very friendly people,” he says. “It’s almost like a little family.”
He chats every morning with teachers who are waiting outside the building to welcome the kids, says David. “I still talk to his kindergarten teacher every day. “I love it.” Leaving Severn will be tough on Logan, who has autism and is highfunctioning but does not respond well to change, says his father. “It’s going to be hard on him. A bigger school, with more kids ... he’ll be lost.”
Logan loves his teachers at Severn and the education assistant who helps in his class. He’s comfortable with the daily routine, including the gang of girls who can be expected to chase him around the playground, laughs David. Logan’s friends accept his quirks and laugh at his wacky humour, including his uncannily accurate recitations of lines from his favourite movies and TV shows.
“Who will his (new) teachers be? Who will his friends be?”
Severn students will be split up and sent to either Pinecrest or D. Roy Kennedy schools, depending on where they live. Logan would go to Pinecrest, a school with room for 525 students.
Staff say their master plan for west end schools was to boost average overall enrolment to about 85 per cent.
Trustees felt they had little choice but to close schools, since the province is ending the extra funding it once provided to schools with low enrolment.
The changes are “quite disruptive for just about everybody,” said trustee Lynn Scott during the board debate. But she said she hopes they will set up schools in the area to be sustainable, eliminating the need for more “accommodation reviews” for some time. “We do it once, and hopefully we’ve got it right.”
Like parents across the west end, David Newell-Turner is trying to make sense of the changes and considering his options.
He may move Logan to the smaller Regina Street PS. It’s a 15-minute walk from their house, and Newell-Turner likes the alternative school philosophy, having attended one himself. There’s also a chance Logan will be accepted into a specialized class for autistic children.
Here’s a school-by-school guide to the changes:
BELL HIGH SCHOOL
Grades: Expands to include Grades 7 to 12 Building: $3.91 million in renovations, including a new basketball court, learning commons, renovated science lab, weight room/spin room. Trustees also agreed to pay, if needed, for busing to another gym until the basketball court is finished to make sure teams have time to practise.
D. AUBREY MOODIE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL
Closing Where students will go: Bell High School
BAYSHORE PUBLIC SCHOOL
Grades: Expands to JK to Grade 6 Programs: Retains English program, expands to include EFI in Grade 1 in September 2017, adding one grade a year.
LAKEVIEW PS
Grades: Expands to JK to Grade 6 Boundaries: JK and SK students in the new Bayshore EFI boundary area will be redirected to Bayshore PS. The Bayshore area will be phased out of the Lakeview EFI attendance boundary as EFI is introduced to Bayshore PS.
BELLS CORNERS PS
Grades: Expands to become JK to Grade 6
MERIVALE HIGH SCHOOL
Grades: Expands to include Grades 7 to 12 Programs: International Baccalaureate program will be phased in, beginning with Grade 9, as soon as the board receives IB certification, which could take two years. Boundaries: Some students now in the Brookfield High School and Glebe Collegiate attendance boundaries will be redirected to Merivale, although students now at Brookfield or Glebe can chose to remain there until they graduate. Building: $3.21 million in upgrades, including gym, classroom and science lab renovations and classroom/music/computer lab renovations for Grade 7-8 students.
CARLETON HEIGHTS PS
Grades: Becomes JK to Grade 6. Grade 7 and 8 students go to Merivale High School.
SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL PS
Grades: Becomes JK to Grade 6. Grade 7 and 8 students go to Merivale High School. Programs: The dual support program class relocates to D. Roy Kennedy
CENTURY PS
Closing Where students will go: Carleton Heights PS
REGINA STREET PS
Programming: Will switch to an alternative school specializing in outdoor education. Students who want to remain in the English program will go to D. Roy Kennedy.
GRANT ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
Closing Where students will go: Regina Street PS
D. ROY KENNEDY
Boundaries: English program boundary will expand to include current catchment area for Regina St. PS. Students in the former Greenbank Middle School MFI boundary — bounded by Baseline Road, Woodroffe Avenue, Hwy. 417 and both sides of Morrison Drive — are redirected to D. Roy Kennedy, but they and their siblings will be permitted to continue at the designated schools.
SEVERN AVENUE PS
Programming: Converts to EFI, beginning with Grades 1 to 3 in September 2017 and adding one grade a year. Grade 7 and 8 may be added later. Where English program students go: Students living north of Carling Avenue will be redirected to D. Roy Kennedy PS, with a one-time option for them and siblings to attend Pinecrest PS.
Students living south of Carling Avenue will be redirected to Pinecrest PS. Boundaries: A new EFI catchment area is created that includes that part of the current Woodroffe Avenue EFI area bounded by Hwy. 417 to the south, the Transitway to the east, and the Lakeview PS EFI boundary to the west.
WOODROFFE AVENUE PS
Grades: Becomes JK to Grade 8 Programming: Grade 7 EFI starting in September 2018 and expanding to Grade 8 EFI in 2019 Boundaries: Some JK to Grade 2 students in the catchment area for Severn will be transferred to that school, but those with a sibling at Woodroffe will be given a one-time option to continue at Woodroffe. J.H. Putman EFI students in Grade 7 and 8 who live north of Hwy. 417 transfer to Woodroffe starting with Grade 7 in September 2018.
J. H. PUTMAN
Closing: As soon as an addition is built at Agincourt Road PS. Staff estimate that will be in September 2019. Where students go: Grade 7 and 8 EFI students who live north of Hwy. 417 will be redirected to Woodroffe Avenue PS, beginning with Grade 7 in September 2018. Grade 6, 7 and 8 EFI students who live south of Hwy. 417 will be redirected to Agincourt Road PS. English students will be redirected to Pinecrest PS.
The autism class will be relocated to Sir Robert Borden High School and the behaviour intervention class will be relocated to D. Roy Kennedy PS, in both cases after the addition to Agincourt is built.
AGINCOURT ROAD PS
Grades: Becomes JK to Grade 8 once addition is built Building: An addition will be built, pending funding from the province, to house intermediate students. Programs: Becomes EFI only JK to Grade 5 English program will move to Pinecrest PS when the addition is open.
SIR ROBERT BORDEN HIGH SCHOOL
Grades: Expands to include Grades 7 to 12 Building: $2.59 million in upgrades, including 300 more bike racks, new lockers, learning commons, keyboard lab and music room, and relocating math office to create space for Grade 7 and 8 students
GREENBANK MIDDLE SCHOOL
Closing Where students will go: Sir Robert Borden High School, except for Gifted EFI class, which relocates to Bell High School.
LESLIE PARK PS
Closing Where students will go: Briargreen PS, except for the autism classes, which move to Woodroffe Ave. PS.
KNOXDALE PS
Boundaries: Students in the MFI boundary for Grades 4 to 6 bounded by Baseline Road, Woodroffe Avenue, Hwy. 417 and both sides of Morrison Drive will be redirected to D. Roy Kennedy, but students and their siblings will be permitted to continue at designated schools.
*Most of the changes take place in September 2017, unless otherwise indicated jmiller@postmedia.com