The Board of Trustees will continue their debate on the future of the Alternative Program at a special continuation meeting on February 23rd at 6:00 P.M.

What Can You Do? Distributed to Summit parents at the January 20th council meeting and via the e-mail distribution list.

Dear School Trustee,

Summit Alternative School Council newsletter, January 17, 2010

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.

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.

Laura Farina

address redacted

Jennifer Adams

Synopsis

The board conducts periodic reviews of its programs and is currently in a short (September - December 2009) review of the Alternative Program. This review is not being conducted by trustees but rather by board staff in the central office on Greenbank Road. The review is based on five goals:

Alternative Education in Ottawa Public Schools: A History

My experience with Alternative Schools in Toronto, at both the elementary and secondary public school level, has been extremely positive. These schools have in fact "saved" many children, especially at the high school level, who would have perhaps become discouraged, disenchanted and left school.

Here are some letters that parents, and other supporters of alternative education and our schools, have sent to the board.

• Sign the petition, and get as many people as you can to sign the petition. It will be presented when the OCDSB Education Committee's recommendations go to the full board (likely in February – stay tuned for details).

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".

These are the teams the working together on the fight for Alternative School Choice