Ottawa-Carleton District School Board director of education hints at major changes after elementary review

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The director of education at Ottawa’s biggest school board has dropped some hints about major changes to elementary schools in the area.

The first is that the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s two specialized schools for developmentally delayed students with complex needs are not on the table to be cut, PIno Buffone said in an interview with the Ottawa Citizen.

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“We understand the our two sites for very needy students are very valuable,” Buffone said. “It is not our intent to do away with them.”

The second is that, if trustees decide next spring to discontinue some programs, those programs will closed by the end of next June and will not reopen next September.

“We’re not going to commit to something we know will be gone in the fall of 2026,” Buffone said.

Last spring, the OCDSB embarked on a series of consultations aimed at implementing sweeping and controversial changes to elementary programs, including integrating children with special needs into mainstream classrooms and changing the way French immersion is delivered.

Other programs under consideration in the review include the board’s five alternative schools, which offer multiple-age groupings, team teaching, self-directed learning, the virtual school and supports for English as a Second Language and English skills development students.

There are more than 50,000 elementary school students at the OCDSB, and the decisions will affect many of them.

The original plan called for recommendations or options for changes to be released on Sept. 27, with consultations continuing in October, decisions made in November and changes taking effect in September 2025.

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Instead, the board released a series of reports and research summaries, but said more consultation was needed over the coming winter and spring, with changes to be decided by trustees next spring. In particular, the board wants to hear more from students and Indigenous and newcomer families.

There are a lot of moving parts in making these decisions, including school attendance boundaries, staffing implications, child-care services at schools, transportation and professional development for educators, Buffone said.

“It was a bit of an ambitious timeline. But, at the same time, we can’t be having these same discussions year after year after year.”

Three principles will guide the decisions.

The first is community-based education, with more students remaining in their community schools. As it stands, some elementary schools have more than 900 students, while other have less than 200, with low-enrolment schools tending to be those that don’t offer French immersion.

The second is “dynamic, bilingual teaching and learning environments.” This means offering programs in French and English at each school site, along with a continuum of bilingualism.

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The third is a “continuum of inclusion” that will provide support for a variety of students at each school, including students with special needs, with the potential for full inclusion, withdrawal and/or specialized classes. Last year, there were 1,231 students enrolled in specialized program classes at the OCDSB. Some parents of children with learning disabilities and complex needs fear the changes will mean the end of self-contained specialized program classes.

“When it come to integrating students, it will not be binary,” Buffone said. “It’s not that everyone will be included, or everyone is not. It’s on a continuum.”

Clifford Bowey and Crystal Bay, the two OCDSB schools for developmentally delayed students with complex needs, are good examples of the need for a continuum, Buffone said. “We have to have specialized programming for these students.”

Meanwhile, the question of “how much French should all students get?” has not been answered.

A report released Sept. 27 said there were benefits to French immersion for all students, including those whose first language was neither English nor French, but that report did not recommend how much French instruction all students should receive.

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The report focused on making second-language programs more equitable and inclusive, with equity of access and equity of support as key pillars, said Nicole Thibault, executive director of Canadian Parents for French.

Those are concepts that Canadian Parents for French espouses, she said. “We strongly believe in French for all, supporting diverse learners, targeting support to help every student thrive, and we promote the importance of collaboration among educators and school administrators to help create more inclusive French as a Second Language programs.”

However, the OCDSB report did not explore research on the “intensity” of delivery for French programs, Thibault said.

“That question must be considered before reconfiguring the delivery of the French immersion,” she said.

“Some of the information in the report may be interpreted as supporting diluting the French Immersion program rather than the importance of keeping a front-end loaded program for the best results for all.”

There are other issues, too. Provincial requirements for instruction must be built into the school day, and there is also a shortage of certified teachers for French as a Second Language, Buffone said.

“It’s all part of what we’re sifting through.”

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