October Steering Committee Meeting

Just thought I would send you some thoughts, questions and issues that ASAC has put together in preparation for this afternoon's Steering Committee meeting. I felt you would appreciate the heads-up.

• Agenda. There is nothing about approval of previous minutes or new Business. What is the difference between 3 (Update on the Stakeholder Surveys) and 5 (Stakeholder surveys) ?
• Minutes. The September minutes are surprisingly brief. The two hour discussion of the survey was condensed into a comment about a "fulsome discussion". The questions that I asked at the end as new Business were not recorded at all.
• Surveys. We were surprised and disappointed in a number of aspects of the survey
  • My understanding was that your team had agreed to include a question regarding what school the child was in.
  • We had requested that certain descriptions that were more important (such as non-competition under co-operation) should go first.
  • The letter for the survey is overly long and does not provide the feedback date until the second page.
  • I was also on the understanding that paper copies would be sent home as well. The letter does discuss requesting a paper copy, but this cannot be reasonably done in the time frame allowed
  • 9 days is a very short time frame
  • The letter should have included the email address for other comments:
    

    elementary_alternative_review@ocdsb.ca

  • Although the response about the survey had said something about removing overly technical language, there are still things like "Student progress is tracked and monitored at regular, short intervals to determine interventions that are necessary, as well as appropriate pacing of instruction" under the assessment and evaluation question and "Teachers choose teaching/learning strategies that activate students’ prior knowledge and experience so students are prepared cognitively, socially and emotionally for new learning" under integrated curriculum.
  • How does "Staff, students and parents understand, and are committed to, implementing the mission, vision, and values of the school" fall under innovative learning? Other sentences in this section are equally vague or meaningless in the context of innovation.
• Central Data. Is there any information on special education numbers inside the programs? We did not see that in the spread sheets.
• Ministry Documents.
  • This looks like a nicely formatted result of a keyword search. There are a lot of irrelevant citations.
• Environmental Scan of Alternative Education Programs.
  • The bibliography is not annotated. It includes the abstracts that were produced by the database company or the journals the articles were originally published in or whatever, as the case may be. "Annotated" usually means that the person producing the bibliography has added their own comments. This is not the case here.
  • The compiler does not appear to have read the full-text documents. There are a lot of irrelevant documents.
  • This literature survey considers the principles in isolation from each other, but this is not how they are practiced inside the Alternative Program.
  • Nothing on Alfie Kohn.
• New Business.

  • Comparing the Alternative Program to planned improvements to the regular program

    In the Review Plan, Objective ii seeks to establish how an improved alternative program might compare with the planned improvements to the regular programs.

    What exactly are those planned improvements? Is there a written document outlining planned improvements? 

  • Public Consultation Nights

    The Elementary Alternative Program Review’s method of “consultation” thus far consists of a survey and email submissions; however, a number of other reviews involve public meetings. Indeed, public meetings are standard practice not only in other consultations by the OCDSB, but in districts throughout the province.

    For example, in the OCDSB, The Designated Schools and Student Transfers Policy Review included two public consultation nights. The Review of Accommodation Pressures at First Ave PS and Hopewell Ave PS included a public meeting. The Ottawa Student Transportation Authority is holding public consultation meetings on proposed transportation efficiency opportunities and school time changes. The French Immersion Public Consultations included at least three public meetings at three different locations. The Orleans Wood-Terry Fox Elementary School Grade and Attendance Boundary Review is planning a community open house meeting.

    The holding of public meetings in relation to a program review is consistent with Policy P.110.GOV: Consultation by the Board, Schools and School Councils with Constituent Groups and the Wider Community . This document states in part, "the consulting body shall ...consider a variety of consultation types and consultative methods." First on the list of methods of consultation is "formal or informal meetings or hearings."

    Therefore, in the spirit of meaningful consultation, we do request that the Elementary Alternative Program Review include public meetings as part of the consultation plan.

  • Previous Commitment to Preserve and Expand the Alternative Program

    Report No. 98-368 to the Education Committee of the OCDSB, November 16 1998 reveals that the Ottawa Carleton District School Board committed to support the continuation of alternative elementary programs, and that consultations would include scoping out the viability of expanding the alternative program. The Major Project plan included a commitment to carry out a communications plan to ensure all communities are well acquainted with the nature of the program and its attendant requirements, that applications be submitted to all schools interested in implementing the program.

    ASAC has no record of this plan ever being implemented. What information does the board have on this? Will the review comment on this plan, or its failure to be implemented, in its evaluation of the program?

  • What is the purpose of the January Steering Committee meeting? Can we not move this to December?

See you at 4:00.

Cheers,

Richard