Zone 9 townhall recording

Dear parents,

I hope you are well. I am reaching out to you as the school board trustee for Zone 9 (Arch St PS, Hawthorne PS, Charles Hulse PS, Featherston PS, Alta Vista PS, Vincent Massey PS, Pleasant Park PS, Riverview Alternative, Lady Evelyn Alternative, Hopewell PS, First Ave PS, and Mutchmor PS) to share with you an update about the review of elementary school programs.

As you have hopefully heard, one of the goals of the OCDSB’s Elementary Program Review was to add French immersion to all schools in Ottawa, recognizing that schools that do not have French immersion programs are at a disadvantage. We want every student to have an equal opportunity to choose to go to either an English or a French immersion program in their local school. You have hopefully also heard about other proposed changes to schools.

The OCDSB has held several meetings and community consultations at which they invited parents and community to comment on their proposed changes, and they invited people to provide feedback on their website, http://engage.ocdsb.ca However, I recognize that some families do not have the same time and ability to advocate as others in Ottawa. I therefore also organized two town hall meetings, one on the evening of March 24 and a second town hall meeting on the mornings of April 5. Those were opportunities for parents to speak with me, ask questions about the Elementary Program Review, and I spoke about my concerns that some schools in Ottawa will be left without French immersion.

Unfortunately until now, Arch St PS, Hawthorne PS, Featherston PS, and Charles Hulse PS have not had French immersion programs. As these schools have the most racialized populations, newcomers to Canada, and families who have fewer advantages in their day to day lives, it is discriminatory for these schools to lack French immersion programs. So far, the OCDSB has only proposed that they will add French immersion to Featherston PS and Charles Hulse PS, but is still leaving Arch St PS and Hawthorne PS without French immersion.

I invited an Arabic interpreter to our town hall meeting on April 5, and our entire two hour conversation was held in English and Arabic. In case you missed that meeting, I have included the link, here, for you to watch it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G5DRQzgmpqjWQpRKsxz9kmGYMv4yr6Hk/view?usp=sharing

As your trustee, I am advocating for ALL schools to have French immersion as well as English programs. I do not want anyone in our community to be left behind.

If you want to speak with me or ask me questions directly, please email me nili.kaplan-myrth@ocdsb.ca (you can write in any language and we will translate). You can also learn more about the Elementary Program Review and provide feedback to the OCDSB at http://engage.ocdsb.ca