A student at Algonquin College has been working on a story about the Alternative Elementary Program Review. Here is a short 2-minute video delegation he made to the February 9th Board Meeting.

alternative school mp4 from Kevin Caners on Vimeo.

In advance of Tuesday night's continuation board meeting, which will not allow delegations or questions, ASAC has sent the following open letter to all trustees:

I was a Trustee with the Ottawa Board of Education in the early 1980's when the School Board adopted the alternative schools program. I remember well the debate then and the Board was convinced this was a different approach to education that wasn't normally offered. In my view the alternative schools program, the teacher commitment and parent commitment distinguishes this approach to education from the regular classroom. This program has proved its worth over the years and should be maintained.

The following is a petition that can be printed, filled out and returned to your local school council by Monday, February 8th.
**EXTENDED** Please return completed pages on Monday but KEEP GOING! The petition will be presented to trustees at the full board meeting when the recommendations for the future of the Alterative Program are on the agenda (likely in February). More details will be posted as they become available.

Documents from ASAC that outline out official position regarding the Alternative Elementary Program Review:

Churchill Alternative School Council Fundraiser

Talk by

Alfie Kohn

Topic:

The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve

A RARE OPPORTUNITY FOR PARENTS, TEACHERS, EDUCATORS OR ANYONE INTERESTED IN OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM TO LISTEN TO THE WORLD RENOWNED AUTHOR. Q&A TO FOLLOW THE TALK.

The Alternative Program Review final report (with recommendations) has been released by board staff.

The short version is that they are closing the program down. They are calling it "removing the designation" because they don't believe the alternative schools are meaningfully different. As below, the "designation" won't be removed until a boundary or accommodation review is conducted involving a specific school. No timeline is given for any such reviews.

The following document was supplied by the board on Dec. 1st, 2009 and outlines their answers to the following questions:

1. Why is the review being conducted?
2. What is the purpose of the review?
3. How can you ensure that the voices of parents are being heard?
4. What is the role of the Elementary Alternative Program Steering Committee?
5. What are the reporting timelines?
6. How will staff develop recommendations?
7. Are the timelines adequate for the review?

The Steering Committee does not steer, investigate or set any agendas or policies for the Alternative Program Review. The sole purpose of the Steering Committee is to receive information from board staff and provide advice back to board staff. The board staff undertaking the review are under no obligation to accept the advice.

The board would respond that this is a regularily scheduled program review. Unfortunately the terms of the review, which set the main goals as determining whether the program should survive, does lend to the perception that this is about closing the program down.

Different players in the board have different reasons for wanting the Alternative program gone. The top ones we have identified are:

Recommendations:
Revitalizing and supporting a successful and innovative educational program requires the
commitment of all partners; therefore ASAC proposed to recommend the following
actions:
For Schools
In order to give the school board confidence that the program they are supporting is
different and innovative, each school will provide the board every year with:
1. An outline of concrete structures, programs and projects that provide innovation

The alternative program is at risk. Now is the time to speak up!
The school board's "review" of the alternative program has begun and it is very important that we let the board know how we value educational choice. Among the alternative program's greatest strengths are our sense of community and the value we place on participation. We need to be able to depend on these now more than ever. This site is designed to provide you with information on the review and how you can get involved to save our program.
The school board's description of the process can be found at http://www.ocdsb.ca/au_hi_program-reviews_EAPR.asp
How can you help?

• Fill out the survey by October 22nd. Information on the survey can be found in our second and third newsletters.
• Email your feelings to the board. The email address is elementary_alternative_review@ocdsb.ca. These will be seen by all trustees and are as important or more important than the surveys. Ideas can be found here. Other email addresses are also available.
• Record a video message. Your kids can too.
• Join one of our teams. Email annettehegel @ yahoo.ca
• Join our Facebook page: "Alternative Schools in Ottawa: More Choices"
• Join our mailing list "prac@asac-ottawa.org"
  • To join: send an email message to "prac-subscribe@asac-ottawa.org".
  • To leave the list: send an email message to "prac-unsubscribe@asac-ottawa.org".
  • To send a message to the list: simply send it to "prac@asac-ottawa.org".

We keep getting asked by parents, "What can we do?" There will be a lot to do, but here is a start. We have set up an on-line video forum for you to view and record your thoughts and concerns about the current review and let the board of education know why the alternative system is important to you!

http://pages.overlay.tv/asac/