Controversial OCDSB elementary program review cancelled by government-appointed supervisor

The supervisor who is in charge of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has sent a letter to parents saying the controversial elementary program review that was supposed to be implemented next fall has been axed. 

Robert Plamondon said instead, a new approach will be implemented that “doesn’t disrupt students and is reflective of community feedback.”

"The EPR changes would possibly have required thousands of students to change schools due to programming changes, placing stress on families and forcing many to navigate a complicated exemption process just to remain in their current school community," Plamondon wrote Tuesday. "The OCDSB was also not in a position to implement such sweeping changes fairly or effectively."

It is not fully clear what that new plan would look like, but Plamondon said two elementary streams would be implemented: French Immersion and English with Core French, offered as early as Grade 1. What is also unknown is whether the removal of alternative schools would also go ahead as planned. 

When the changes were implemented by the board of trustees in a nine-to-three vote last May, the decision faced fierce pushback from parents who sent in over 12,000 submissions of concern. Many were parents of students in alternative classrooms who said their students could not function the same in a traditional classroom. The original plan would have also seen 1,500 more students than normal need to change schools during the 2026-2027 academic year, with 18 schools seeing grade reconfigurations and dozens more with redrawn boundaries. 

The OCDSB has not made Plamondon available for interviews, and on Tuesday, when the email stating the changes was made public, the supervisor was doing a book launch and talk at the Albany Club in Toronto. 

Plamondon should resign, says one trustee

In June, Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra announced Plamondon would be taking over control of the OCDSB as three other boards across the province were also appointed supervisors. There was some confusion at the time as to why Ottawa’s public board made the list when it narrowly passed a balanced budget after years of deficits. Calanda said it was about restoring “public confidence” in board matters after multiple scandals. 

Since then, the education minister has hinted he wants to explore the idea of doing away with public board trustees in Ottawa altogether. 

That news has not sat well with longtime Barrhaven Trustee Donna Blackburn, who said she was “completely blindsided” by Plamondon’s reversal of the elementary review. She is now calling for his resignation.

“I am very disappointed because a duly elected board of trustees made some very important decisions based on advice we got from our staff, who are experts in education,” Blackburn told the Lookout late Tuesday night. “Then comes along a provincially appointed accountant with no background in education and he decides to cancel it. In my opinion his letter was very disrespectful. It is still not clear what exactly he is doing.”

Blackburn met with Plamondon – a chartered accountant – back in July and left the meeting feeling like he understood why the board of trustees made the decisions they voted on.

But she also believes the board was only put under supervision to silence trustees who have been pointing out that public education is severely underfunded. She noted the Doug Ford-led PC government never campaigned on doing away with trustees during the last Provincial election.

“Allegedly, we were put under supervision to restore financial management. This deficit flies in the face of physical responsibility. Unless Mr. Plamondon is going to announce that he has convinced the Minister of Education to pour millions of dollars into the OCDSB coffers, we are going to have big problems here,” said Blackburn.

One program trustees did vote to keep was specialized program classes, which were initially on the chopping block. Blackburn hopes they won't now be cut to find the savings. 

“We right now are violating kids’ human rights on a daily basis. We have so many kids who are not in school full-time because we do not have the support,” she said. 

In his letter Plamondon said cancelling the elementary program overhaul came after meeting with educators, parents and students.