If students don’t put enough effort into their work, are regularly causing problems between their classmates, and fail to take into account the repercussions of their actions, you might feel disappointed, but to a certain degree you could have at least expected it. You can call it a learning experience.
On the other hand, when you begin to see this kind of behaviour from your school board, it’s a bit less understandable and a lot more frustrating.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is due for quite the learning experience. Last week, the board reversed its initial decision to export its kindergarten classes at the overcrowded Elgin Street Public School to nearby Centennial Public School after being told by a concerned parent that their plan was, in fact, illegal. The board will now go ahead with the original staff-recommended plan of sending students in the English program at Elgin school to Centennial schools instead.
Amir Attaran, the law professor at the University of Ottawa who broke the unfortunate news to the school board, said it took him some basic research and about 10 minutes of googling to realize that the Education Act set out by the Ministry of Education makes offering kindergarten mandatory at all elementary schools.
To be blunt, how could the board not have known this before attempting to go ahead with its plan? The decision was made over the course of one day from initial meetings to voting and in that time not one staff member thought to check whether or not it was actually a viable plan in the first place. Even their fifth-graders know to check facts before a big presentation, but granted, the board members have not been in fifth grade for a long time.
The decision, once it had come down, immediately divided parents who were already combative over the potential solutions to overcrowding. Some were passionate about keeping the cultural fabric of students in the English and French programs together; others were concerned about the effects on their young children having to shift from school to school to school over the course of a year. Many were already irate about a perceived bungling of the public consultation process.
The school board, which should have acted as a bridge between these factions, instead became another problem for parents to deal with. At the very least, there may be something to be said for presenting them with a common enemy.
Backed into a corner and short on time at the meeting last week, the board had to make its decision in desperation rather than careful consideration. The quality of this plan and its implementation has undoubtedly suffered as a result of this circus.
There will, ultimately, never have been a solution that all groups would have agreed upon, but that should not be the expectation. Parents, and indeed students as well, should be able to expect a transparent and well-administered process of decision-making. At the end of the day, whether pleased or angry we should be able to say the board acted with due diligence.
In the case of overcrowding at Elgin Street Public School, it most certainly did not.