By Michael Olson
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is working on a plan that would allow needy schools to draw on special funds for extra-curricular activities as early as June.
The board is currently negotiating with the Community Foundation of Ottawa, a local public charitable organization, to set up an education foundation to help fund special projects such as early literacy programs, homework clubs, breakfast programs and cultural instructors.
The foundation is intended to provide opportunities for children at “Beacon” schools — those the board has identified as having a high proportion of needy children, including two Centretown elementary schools, Centennial and Cambridge Street Community.
Money raised for the education fund would be managed, but not allocated, by the Community Foundation of Ottawa, says president Barbara McInnes.
McInnes’ organization serves the Ottawa community by pooling numerous charitable endowments into a permanent capital fund, and returning the earnings according to the instructions given by donors.
The foundation would act as a focus for donations and help equalize opportunities, says Judith Hoye, superintendent of schools for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
The education foundation could make use of an existing $800,000 that has accumulated from previous endowments where the original reason for the gift no longer exists.
Hoye says while people do donate money, it’s usually to secondary schools and the wealthier schools generally attract higher endowments.
Although there are children with special needs even at the wealthiest schools in Ottawa, Hoye says the high proportion of children at risk of failing makes for a significantly different environment at “Beacon” schools.
“Some of these children coming into our schools have never seen a book, or have never had the physical or emotional care that one would think all children come to school with,” says Hoye. “We have children coming to school every day, in Ottawa, without food.”
The board is currently making sacrifices to meet these needs and Hoye says the education foundation will make it easier to address these deficits.
“The money’s not there. It takes a great deal for a board to say that we will vote $185,000 for a breakfast program – equivalent to the salary of three or four teachers – when that’s not really the business of a school board, except that we know that children won’t learn unless they’ve had food.”
She says the provincial funding formula does not address these needs, many of which result from factors such as lower income levels, first language difficulties and transience.
Barbara Wright, principal of Cambridge Street Community Public School, says her school doesn’t have the same capacity to raise funds as wealthier schools in Ottawa.
Many of the parents of children at Cambridge Street school are new to Canada and it can be harder for them to contribute money to special activities.
“The parents are hard working and they want equally for their children,” says Wright. “But when you’re trying to establish yourself in a country, you have to get your roof over your head and there are so many things you have to do first before you have the luxury of spending $200 for a March break camp or $60 for art lessons after school.”
Through grants from organizations (like Ottawa’s Community Foundation) Cambridge Street school has been able to fund extra-curricular activities such as a homework club. They have also been able to bring in Kathy Armstrong, a musical performer trained in Ghana, to teach drumming and dancing to children in every class.
Wright says she hopes the fund will sustain and allow for more of these kinds of enriching projects.
“All we’re trying to do is ensure that these children are exposed to the same kinds of things that children in other schools are exposed to,” says Wright. “We’re trying to equalize chances and narrow the gap.”