By Laura Scarfo
A new pilot program for expelled students in Ottawa will segregate them from regular students and focus on mental health in addition to academics, says Dan Wiseman, a coordinator at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
The pilot program is a two-year joint venture of the public and Catholic school boards, and the Youth Services Bureau. It will cost a total of $700,000 for both years, all of which is provided by a grant from the Ministry of Education.
The program “is not a boot camp. [The board] is taking a more promising approach,” says Joan Spice, trustee for the Catholic school board.
“The program has a very strong academic component – approximately 60 per cent,” says Wiseman.
“While the other 40 per cent focuses on mental health. Things like anger management or drug counselling–whatever the student requires.”
Spice says it’s hard to estimate how many students will actually be able to take advantage of the program,
“The new expulsion regulation [in the Safe Schools Act] makes it a lot more difficult to expel a student. There are very broad mitigating circumstances now so there will probably be fewer expelled students than in previous years.”
The safe schools legislation, initiated by the provincial government in 2000, mandates that all fully expelled students must attend this program if they wish to re-enter the regular school system.
The primary staff will consist of one director, one teacher and one youth worker, says Wiseman.
As students arrive, the staff will increase. Currently, there are no students in the program as no expulsions have been handed out.
Wiseman says this could mean the program may run without any students.
“That is one of the challenges we face, but I don’t think it will be too long before we have students.”
According to Wiseman, the program will likely be run at St. Daniel School on Maitland Avenue and Agincourt Road. The school is currently used as an adult education facility.
Angie Spence, principal at Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and Denise Andre, principal at Immaculata High, said they have heard little about the program.
Wiseman says information sessions for schools are currently underway.