There will be fewer teachers, the educational assistants who work with them, and office staff at Ottawa English public schools next September if the board adopts the tough budget proposed Monday.

Widespread cuts will be needed to make up a $9.3-million budget shortfall at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the report says, including the elimination of 85 staff. That includes 38.3 academic staff, mostly teachers.

The proposals cut a wide swath, capturing everyone from custodians and school office staff to principals at the city’s largest school board, which employs 9,000 full and part-time workers.

The budget report also suggests eliminating creative arts and general-interest continuing education courses for adults, since they lose money and are outside the core business of educating the board’s 70,000 elementary and secondary students.

Starting Tuesday, trustees will wrestle with the most difficult budget they have faced in years. None of the cuts is good for students, staff warn, but they say they are trying to spread the pain fairly.

Cuts to teaching staff are wide and thin, with no particular area targeted. They include, for instance, four learning support teachers in elementary schools who help special-education students, but there are still 237 of those teachers left in the board. 

Eliminating 13 educational assistants will be felt in regular classrooms, where teachers are expected to cope with a wide range of needs, from children with learning disabilities to behaviour problems. However, the board will also add four educational assistants to support new classes for students with autism.

Another area that could be controversial is cutting four of the board’s 88 elementary ELS teachers just as schools face an influx of Arabic-speaking Syrian refugee children. Classroom teachers have received training to help children learn English, and staff should be able to handle the extra load, says the report.

By September, about 500 Syrian children will be enrolled in the board. Few of them speak English.

Schools near pockets of the city where the refugees have settled bear the load. Carson Grove Elementary, for instance, a school of 300 students in the city’s east end, will see its population surge by a third as Syrian children in the neighbourhood enrol. Already 62 Syrian students have started at Carson Grove, and applications for another 62 are being processed. 

It would be “really dumb” for the board to cut ESL teachers now, says Angela Keller-Herzog, spokesperson for Ottawa Centre Refugee Action, which represents volunteer groups sponsoring a dozen Syrian refugee families.

“What we’d like to do in Ottawa, as a city, is to provide a good welcome and the right kind of foothold for these families to successfully settle and integrate in Canada. There is a whole bunch of public sentiment that wants to do that, and we want our public institutions to also provide that foothold.

“There was a political decision made that we would not be sponsoring single men from the Middle East because of security concerns. Canada is interested in taking in families. So now we have all these kids, and now we need to make sure we provide the right support for these kids to settle.”

Some cuts are easier to make than others. For instance, one of the cuts is to six “instructional coaches” who help classroom teachers sharpen their skills on everything from literacy to math and ESL. That improves the quality of teaching, but because coaches don’t work directly with students, it’s unlikely any parents will show up at the school board to lobby on their behalf.

Cuts to particular programs, though, can be fiercely opposed by parents of students who benefit from them.

Earlier this spring, for example, before budget debates even began, trustees rejected a staff suggestion to cut a summer school for severely disabled children after hearing parents give emotional testimony about how important it was for their families. The school will cost an estimated $399,000 this summer. It’s an “extra” not funded by the province. 

However, over the course of the year trustees have also made unpopular decisions that will help balance the budget. They agreed to make kindergartens bilingual and reduce the amount of French instruction in the early French immersion program, which drew months of outrage from parents. They reduced the amount of time kids with severe learning disabilities spend in segregated classes, and increased fees for before- and after-school programs. Collectively those changes saved $5.1 million a year and reduced the shortfall from $14.4 million to $9.3 million.

A $9.3-million shortfall might not seem large for a board with an annual budget of $864.7 million. But wiggle room is limited. About 60 per cent of the budget is made up of academic salaries, most of which cannot be cut because of provincial limits on class sizes and teacher contracts.

Some proposed cuts in the 2016-17 Ottawa-Carleton District School Board budget

38.3: Total academic staff 

6: Instructional coaches who train teachers to improve their skills in math, literacy and other areas

4: ESL teachers

4: Learning support teachers in elementary schools who help special-education students 

4: Principals and vice-principals

1: Teacher for hearing impaired students

47: Total administrators, support and learning support staff

13: General educational assistants

12.25: School office staff

1: Psychologist

0.8: Social worker

jmiller@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/JacquieAMiller

A popular Bell High School music teacher faces new sexual assault and sexual exploitation charges amid allegations that he inappropriately touched two female students while he was at work.

Timothy Stanutz, 56, appeared in court Thursday by video to face two more counts of sexual exploitation and sexual assault.

He was re-released from custody on a $2,500 bond and was ordered to abide by certain conditions, including a ban from having any contact or communication with females under the age of 18. He had initially been banned from having any contact with females under the age of 16.

When Stanutz, who wore a dark-coloured suit jacket during his brief court appearance, was asked if he understood the conditions he replied, “Absolutely.”

The charges were laid less than week after Stanutz appeared in court on May 6 to face sexual exploitation and sexual assault charges related to another alleged female victim.

When the first set of charges were laid, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said in a statement that it’s co-operating with police and had placed the accused on immediate leave.

Former students expressed shock and disbelief that the well-liked music teacher was facing charges. Students said Stanutz was an unofficial guidance counsellor and was a favourite teacher for many at the school.

Stanutz is scheduled to appear in court next on May 26.

Ottawa police said in a statement that officers with the sexual assault and child abuse unit are concerned there could be more victims and are continuing to investigate. 

“The Ottawa Police will respect a victim’s wishes to pursue or not pursue the matter before the courts,” Staff Sgt. Angela McDade said in a statement. “The reporting of these incidents by victims to police is key for investigators to identify suspects and determine crime trends.”

Stanutz is the third Ottawa teacher charged with sexual assault in little more than a month.

In April, police charged a male teacher at École secondaire catholique Pierre-Savard in Barrhaven, and a female teacher at Mother Teresa High School, also in Barrhaven.

mhurley@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/meghan_hurley

Parents and students at Ottawa’s largest school board should prepare to confront the two most controversial words in education: “school closure.”

No schools are targeted yet, but some will have to close as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board conducts sweeping reviews over the next five years, warns a report to be considered by trustees Tuesday.

The report lays out the harsh reality: Enrolment is declining, and across the board there are 11,500 empty student spaces.

But there’s a mismatch between where schools are located and where they are needed.

In some fast-growing suburban areas and other pockets of the city, schools are crammed, their yards filled with portables. At the same time, 32 elementary schools across the district have an occupancy rate of less than 65 per cent. Four high schools are half empty, operating at less than 50 per cent of capacity.

The board is struggling to eliminate a budget shortfall and can’t afford to keep paying for unused classrooms, or padding the funding to help small schools maintain a variety of programs, the report warns.

The first two of seven “accommodation reviews” will begin this fall, with studies of all the schools in the Merivale-West area; and of the high schools in the east end of the city.

Staff aren’t expected to make recommendations until September 2016, with debate and public consultations running through February 2017. But it’s not hard to pick out schools that may be in the crosshairs for closure or change.

The need to study the three east-end high schools is “urgent,” the report says. Two of them — Rideau High School and Gloucester High School — are operating at less than 42 per cent of their capacity. The third, Colonel By Secondary School, is crammed, at 113 per cent capacity.

Rideau’s school population is in the “low 400s,” including only 61 students in Grade 9, the report said. And enrolment at Gloucester High School is projected to continue to decrease over the next few years. 

High schools should ideally have a population of 800 in order to provide a wide range of program choices, the report said.

It makes the argument that small is definitely not beautiful. 

Elementary schools should have at least a class and a half worth of students for each program in each grade, the report said. That allows students to have a “broader range of peer relationships” (education-speak for more friends) and allows teachers at each grade level to collaborate, the report said. 

Across the board, 16 elementary schools have populations of 201 students or less. Historically, the board has supplemented course offerings in smaller schools by giving “disproportionate staffing” to them, but the number of small schools is increasing and the board can’t afford it, the report said.

However, parents should not assume that small schools in the city will necessarily be the ones to close, said board chair Shirley Seward. The seven reviews will typically include all the schools in an area of the city, so staff can study various configurations.

The Merivale-West district review, for example, includes 22 elementary and four secondary schools. Among the elementary schools, eight operate at less than 60 per cent capacity, and four operate at more than 100 per cent capacity. The review may recommend that some schools consolidate programs or change the grades they incorporate. 

“We wanted to do this from a positive point of view,” said Seward. “We’re not just slashing and burning. That’s not what we’re doing. In each of the districts, we will look at whether any schools need to close, but also, and more important, what advantages the remaining schools have realized.”

Larger high schools can offer a wider range of programs, which was a priority identified in a review of secondary schools, she said.

One of the changes expected as part of the Merivale-West review is the addition of an International Baccalaureate program at a high school in that area. The only IB program now is at Colonel By Secondary School in the east end.

But some schools will have to close, Seward said, echoing the warning in the report. “School closures are painful,” she said. “Very painful. Parents and students become attached to their schools.”

The last school the board closed was Munster Public in 2015. It had shrunk to 58 students.

Another key issue at play as the reviews unfold is the fate of the board’s English programs, which have been swamped by the popularity of French immersion in the city.

Nearly 70 per cent of senior kindergarten students in the board enrol in French immersion, although some switch over to English before they finish high school. 

That’s caused lopsided numbers at some schools that offer both programs, with tiny English classes staff say aren’t sustainable. There are only 14,000 students enrolled in the English program from Grade 1 to Grade 8, the report says. “It is evident given this number that the English program cannot be offered in all of our elementary schools.”

It suggests that some schools could offer only English programs, or a combination of English and middle-French immersion, which begins in Grade 4.
 
That’s controversial because many parents want to maintain neighbourhood schools with a variety of programs rather than busing kids to schools that specialize in either English or French immersion. The issue exploded recently in the debate over what to do about overcrowding at Elgin Street Public School. Angry parents yelled and cried at meetings and everyone now bemoans the poisonous atmosphere the debate created in the school community. The English program students at Elgin are moving to Centennial Public School in the fall, making Elgin Street a centre for French immersion only.
 
Secondary schools
5,500: Empty pupil spaces
4: Schools at less than 50 per cent of capacity
7: Schools at 100 per cent  capacity
 
Elementary schools
6,000: Empty pupil spaces
32: Schools with an occupancy rate of less than 65 per cent
16: Schools with 201 students or less
 
Schools that are part of the Merivale West review
Elementary schools: Century, Sir Winston Churchill, Meadowlands, Carleton Heights, Leslie Park, Briargreen, Knoxdale, Greenbank, Manordale, Grant Alternative, Churchill Alternative, Bells Corners, Lakeview, Bayshore, D.A. Moodie, Agincourt, J.H. Putman, D. Roy Kennedy, Pinecrest, Regina Street, Severn, Woodroffe

Secondary schools: Merivale, Sir Robert Borden, Bell, Woodroffe
 
Some schools in the Merivale-West review that were under capacity in the fall of 2015:
Grant Alternative: 93 students in a school with a capacity for 243
Regina Street: 146 students in a school with a capacity for 300
Severn: 166 students in a school with a capacity for 375
Bayshore: 311 students in a school with a capacity for 594
D.A. Moodie: 351 students in a school with a capacity for 502
Century: 229 students in a school with a capacity for 444
Merivale High School: 616 students in a school with a capacity for 1,362
Source: For a list off all schools, see the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board enrolment report

Public high schools in Ottawa should offer all three core programs, whether students are in basic, applied or academic streams, says a study of secondary schools done by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Those recommendations will be part of the puzzle when the board begins a five-year process of deciding which schools will close, consolidate or change their programming. Enrolment is declining, and populations are shifting. Some schools are crowded; others are way below capacity.

Overall, there are 11,500 empty pupil spaces in schools across the city. However, in some growing neighbourhoods there is a demand for elementary schools, and staff estimate the board will need an additional 2,500 pupil spaces by 2017.

Some under-used schools will  have to close, warns a staff report that sets out a timetable for seven “accommodation reviews” across the city.

That’s where the recommendations in the report on secondary schools will come into play. Secondary schools should ideally have at least 800 students to offer a full range of programs, says the accommodations report.

If trustees accept the recommendations in both reports, smaller high schools may be in trouble.

And all schools with dwindling student populations will be under the microscope. The board cannot continue to pay for under-used schools, staff warn.

Four high schools in the board are at less than 50-per-cent capacity, according to the accommodation report. Two of them are in the east end: Rideau and Gloucester High Schools, which are both operating at less than 42-per-cent capacity, the report said. The report does not name the other two schools. However, according to enrolment statistics posted on the board’s website, Hillcrest High School was at 40-per-cent capacity last fall, and Merivale High School was at 45-per-cent capacity.

Staff suggest that Rideau, Gloucester and Colonel by Secondary schools be studied in the first wave of accommodation reviews that begin this September. Colonel By is over-capacity.

The other review suggested to begin this fall is of the 26 elementary and secondary schools in the Merivale-West area. Of the 22 elementary schools there, eight are at less than 60-per-cent capacity, and four are operating at more than 100-per-cent capacity.

In some growing areas of the city, though, schools are crowded.

At Tuesday’s meeting, trustees were asked to approve the priorities for capital projects: a new secondary school in Stittsville, an addition to A.Y. Jackson Secondary School, an addition to Viscount Alexander Public School, and an addition to Elmdale Public School.

School council chair Geri Moss-Norbury from Elmdale told trustees that the school has seven portables, which were supposed to be temporary but have become permanent. They are cutting into the yard space, she said, and crowding will only get worse with development at LeBreton Flats, in addition to new condos being built in the area.

There aren’t too many Ontario communities of 30,000 that don’t have a public high school, says Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustee Lynn Scott.

But Stittsville, the fast-growing suburb at the western edge of Ottawa, may finally lose that dubious distinction. Ottawa-Carleton District School Board trustees are set to approve a wish list for capital projects that moves the proposal for a high school in Stittsville to the No. 1 spot.

That’s no guarantee the province will provide the $36.1 million required to build it, however. Stittsville residents first began lobbying for a public high school more than 20 years ago. 

“I definitely feel hopeful,” says Stittsville mom Tanya Hein, who has two children in public elementary school, another starting kindergarten next fall and a fourth on the way. “The population in Stittsville definitely warrants having a public high school here.” The community is expected to grow to 70,000 over the next decade or so, she notes. 

The situation in Stittsville is certainly unusual. The community has two Catholic high schools  — Sacred Heart for English students and Paul Desmarais, a French-language school that just opened in January. And the English Catholic board has long-range plans to build a second high school in the Stittsville area around Fernbank Road and Terry Fox Drive.

Is Stittsville a pocket of intense Catholicism? Nope. The situation is the result of unpredictable population growth patterns, funding decisions by the province and parents who feel railroaded into leaving the public school system.

Stittsville teenagers in the public board are now bused to South Carleton High School in the village of Richmond. 

But hundreds of them have switched to the Catholic board to attend Sacred Heart High School instead because it’s right in Stittsville. And who can blame them, or their parents?

Students don’t want to ride the bus to school if they don’t have to, say parents. And if students are involved in extra-curricular activities and sports, parents end up driving to and from the high school in Richmond several times a week, said parent Jennifer Smith. Even something as simple as an orthodontist appointment is more inconvenient when the school is out of town and there is no public transit, she says. Parents have to leave work and ferry their kids back and forth from Richmond. 

Smith has been lobbying for a public high school in Stittsville for six years. In the meantime, her three children are growing up. This fall her oldest son, who is heading to Grade 9, will join the parade of public-school children who switch to Sacred Heart. “I’ll get a lot of flak for that,” she says.

But she doesn’t want him riding a bus to Richmond, either. “What do I do? All his friends are going there.

“Sacred Heart is a perfectly good school, but my choice would be to not have (my children) go to a school founded on religious beliefs. I never saw that happening, never.”

Meanwhile, because of the migration to Sacred Heart, South Carleton High School in Richmond is under-enrolled. 

It’s “disgraceful” that a public high school hasn’t been built in Stittsville, says Scott, a longtime trustee for the area. “Lots of people move into Stittsville and are absolutely astounded there is no public high school for their kids.”

When Glen Gower and his wife moved to Stittsville six years ago, they assumed the area would have a public high school by the time their two young children were ready to enrol.

Now he’s not so sure. “It was No. 2 on the (school board wish list) last year, and it’s been on (the priority) list for about 10 years now, so I really don’t think this means a lot,” says Gower. “The province keeps on ignoring it.

“It may be that having it No. 1 says to the province that the Ottawa school board thinks it’s really, really important this time, but I’m not holding my breath.”

Public-board families face a tough choice, says Gower, whose kids are now in grades 3 and 5. “Do they send their kid to a Catholic high school they can walk and bike to, and be close to home, or do they do four years of school buses, morning and night? It’s the conversation everyone has, whether to stay in the public system.”

A public high school is also important for the community, he says. “The school itself becomes an infrastructure asset for the community, a place where you can hold your Guides or your Cub meetings. It gives you an auditorium where you can be doing community events.”

The roots of the situation go back decades, and illustrate the difficulties of predicting population growth, says Scott. In 1952, when Stittsville was a quaint little village, the school board built South Carleton High School in Richmond to serve the entire rural area. At the time, no one dreamed that Stittsville would explode as new housing developments trampled farmers’ fields.

The Ontario Ministry of Education considers requests for new schools and renovations annually. But it doesn’t necessarily fund projects in the order proposed by the school board. Last year, the province funded a $6.96-million addition to West Carleton Secondary School, which was the top priority for the Ottawa public board, and a $14.58-million elementary school in Findlay Creek, which was fifth on the board’s wish list.

School board meeting

What: Stittsville parents plan to attend the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board meeting to press their case for a public high school in their community

When: Tuesday, May 24

When & where: 7:30 p.m., Ottawa-Carleton District School Board office, 133 Greenbank Rd.

Location, location, location

Re: Small high schools under the microscope at the public school board, May 17.

Just what the public needs: the Ottawa Carleton District School Board is conducting “sweeping reviews over the next five years.” Has anything changed since the OCDSB told the public that one of the Beacon Hill-Ottawa East high schools was going to be closed seven years ago?

Your report that Colonel By Secondary School is “crammed, at 113 per cent capacity” is misleading because the students arrive (by numerous methods of transportation) from across the city for the International Baccalaureate Program (which could be relocated or separated east/west).

Gloucester High School (GHS) is located walking distance from the soon-to-be opened new transitway, a public library, a swimming pool, BMX track, baseball diamond and a hockey arena. Gloucester has a separate cafeteria, auditorium, gymnasium, construction tech shop, transportation tech shop, soccer/rugby pitch and all the classrooms for 1,800 to 2,000 students. It has a neglected greenhouse and tennis courts. In real estate language, it has it all plus location, location, location.

Mark Shulist, Ottawa

Let’s endorse this museum

Re: Bring an aboriginal museum to the Flats, May 17.

Upon reading this article, I was reminded of a thought I had while visiting the Heard Museum in Phoenix Arizona recently. The Heard is a world-class museum devoted to the arts and heritage of all indigenous people of the Americas, with a focus on American aboriginal tribes.

During my visit, I wondered how we could establish a Canadian equivalent in Ottawa. Having devoted years as a volunteer in our non-profit sector, I wondered if what we needed was the commitment of a philanthropist such as John Ruddy of the Trinity Development Foundation. Such an individual could provide the leadership required for creating the first national museum devoted to indigenous peoples, their arts and culture. I also concur with the author of the article that such a museum could be incorporated into the development of LeBreton Flats or the Zibi community grounds.  

Space should be provided on the grounds around the museum to allow for gatherings where festivals could be held devoted to the traditional arts of the First Nations. Such a monument would be a source of great pride to all First Nations people of our country. 

Jean-Serge Lauzon, Ottawa

Speaking from the heart

Author Robert Hage intimates that the Museum of History “tells only a small part of the story” of aboriginals. His short essay was honest and speaks from his heart, showing compassion for our aboriginal history. We cannot do justice to this history by skirting around it in bits and pieces. 

Let’s have a living memorial to our native Canadians and their traditions, through interpretive designs told through their native voices. Canada has the best there is of native architects, museum designers, graphic designers, native culture experts and academics. They can and will produce a Native Canadian National Museum that will turn out to be the pride of Canada and the best in the world.  

All what we need is the will of the people who make such things happen.

Asoka Weerasinghe, Ottawa

A little R and R, anyone?

It’s that time of year. Homeowners are indulging in some R and R: roofing and renovations. Over the course of a week on my walks, I pick up on average about six to 10 roofing nails, drywall and framing screws et cetera. I’m getting quite the collection, and may not have to purchase any for a long time.

What’s most important, though, in doing my good deeds, is that I have potentially saved a half-dozen or more car owners from the hassle and expense of having to repair a flat tire. You’re welcome !

Brian Clark, Barrhaven

Brightening up the balcony

You run great articles on most aspects of gardening and when I lived in the country, I loved using many of these helpful hints.

Now that I am in a condo with limited balcony space, I would love to read suggestions on what are the best flowers for the sorts of conditions one finds on balconies. And also how to grow a few veggies. With so many people living in condos and apartments, you would reach quite a large audience with this topic.

Joanna Crilly, Ottawa

Both parents and trustees made their pitches Monday to spare programs and staff at Ottawa’s public school board from impending budget cuts. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board faces a $5.4-million budget shortfall. Making cuts won’t be easy. 

About 45 parents, teachers and members of the public attended the meeting to lobby for everything from after-school piano lessons to social workers.

Trustees planned to suggest motions that would reverse proposed cuts to education assistants, ESL teachers, learning resource teachers, social workers and psychologists, and school office staff.

Several parents whose children take lessons in piano and other instruments, drawing, art, creative writing and yoga extolled the benefits of the extracurricular creative arts program. Hundreds of children at 26 schools take the lessons, offered by private instructors before or after classes.

Parents pay fees, but they don’t cover all the costs, and the board could save $48,000 a year by cutting the program. “The minimal savings you project pale in comparison to the tremendous good this program delivers,” said one brief signed by 27 people.

The lessons are convenient for busy parents and are often taken by children who are in the before-and-after daycares at schools. One single mother wrote in a brief that it was the only way she could manage to give her child piano lessons because she can’t leave work to ferry her daughter to lessons after school.

Parent Miriam Martin said her son in Grade 2 takes piano lessons at 5:45 p.m., across the hall from his after-school care. Like several other parents, she suggested the board increase fees and better advertise the program.

Board staff said the extracurricular classes could continue if private groups wanted to run them.

Lisa Liu and Colleen Hyslop asked the board to save the general-interest courses at schools offered for adults. They take a keyboard class. “It’s important to reach out to the community,” said Hyslop, who is retired. “People really appreciate the opportunity to pursue their dreams that they couldn’t do in the past,” said Liu.

Staff have suggesting cutting the general-interest courses to save $267,000.

Ottawa Coun. Tim Tierney said he was concerned about cuts to ESL teachers, given the influx of Syrian refugees. About 450 of the refugees have settled in two apartment buildings on Donald Street in his ward. More than 100 Syrian children have enrolled at nearby Carson Grove Elementary School, which had 300 students before the refugees arrived.

Several trustees said they welcome the refugee children, but the school board needs funding from higher levels of government to provide services to them.

“The federal government sponsored them, but they didn’t quite finish the job,” said trustee Theresa Kavanagh.

By September, about 500 Syrian children are expected to have enrolled across the board. Staff have said they will look at the enrolment numbers in September and might make staffing changes then. The board has already approved cutting four ESL teachers. Director of education Jennifer Adams said staff would have proposed even deeper cuts but were concerned about the needs of Syrian refugees.

She said all the budget cuts affect students, but staff have tried to make them “fair and balanced.”

One of the largest proposed cuts is to the teaching assistants for children with special needs. The budget suggests cutting 10 of the assistants, who help with everything from moving children in and out of wheelchairs to handling kids with behaviour problems. School office staff are also hit, with a reduction of 12.25 positions.

Trustees are expected to approve the budget by the end of June.

Ottawa’s public school board wants a judge to order YouTube and Google to hand over contact and other personal information about Internet users who repeatedly posted a video of an upset autistic student online.

The video was first posted to YouTube under the title “Kid with autism goes nuts” in February of this year. The video – which purportedly showed an Ottawa police officer and a teacher attempting to calm an agitated student at the Ottawa Technical Secondary School in December 2014 – was removed after the school board contacted YouTube, but was posted two more times by people with different usernames over the next two months before again being removed at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s request.

The school board believes the video was both shot and posted to the Internet by one of their staff members, according to their court application, which was filed in late April.

“The OCDSB requires that YouTube and Google disclose the subscriber information and IP address relating to the channels on which the video was uploaded and the registration information for the Gmail e-mail address in order to confirm which of its employees is responsible for posting the content and in order to preserve evidence of same,” reads the application.

“The interests of justice favour ordering YouTube to disclose the information sought in furtherance of any copyright or employee discipline courses of action the OCDSB might take,” the application said.

In their court application, the school board said the video was both shot and disclosed without the student’s or his parent’s consent. The parents have since expressed concerns to the school board about violations of the child’s privacy.

The school board also cited privacy as its reason for acting.

“The school district is very concerned that the posting of this video is a violation of the student’s privacy,” OCDSB communications officer Sharlene Hunter said in an email. “The court action was initiated in an effort to learn who is posting the video. That information may help to avoid future postings.”

But an expert in Internet law said the school board’s request seems like “a little bit of a fishing expedition” that is unlikely to succeed, as the video has already been taken down.

Allen Mendelsohn said while the video violated the student’s privacy, it doesn’t appear any laws have been broken and the issue now seems to be more of a contractual or discipline issue between the board and one of its employees.

That likely won’t be enough to convince a judge the Internet companies should be forced to turn over records that they fiercely want to protect, said Mendelsohn, a Montreal lawyer.

“If you need the information to get it removed, a judge will order it,” said Mendelsohn. “I’m not sure there is actually something for a judge to hang his hat on beyond the school board just wanting to find out who this person was passing around the video. It’s definitely a stretch, that’s for sure.”

Mendelsohn said he expects Google and YouTube to fight the application. Attempts for comment from YouTube and Google about what they will do weren’t immediately returned.

However, both have already told the school board they will need a court order if they want the information.

The school board has asked for “all information” in the possession of YouTube and Google regarding the identity and contact information for the usernames and email address associated with the postings of the video. That information includes the names, addresses, IP addresses, email addresses and modem and telephone numbers of the listed individuals. The school board also wants a copy of all documents relating to the origins of the messages created by the persons connected to those usernames. The matter is scheduled to be heard in court on July 19.

“The large companies certainly have an interest in not turning over that information,” said Mendelsohn. “They don’t want to be seen as acquiescing to turn over that information on a regular basis. That takes away the trust of their user base.”

The school board alleges the video was shot by a teacher at the Ottawa Technical Secondary School on Donald Street on Dec. 1, 2014. According to an affidavit by the school’s vice-principal, Jennifer Tremblay, that’s when a student began to act out in a “disruptive and violent manner” during class.

According to the OCDSB, the classroom was evacuated before another teacher from the school’s Behaviour Intervention Program and the Ottawa police school resource officer came in to assist the student. While that teacher and the police officer were trying to help calm the student down, the classroom teacher turned on a video recording device and recorded the incident, according to the school board’s court application.

The Behaviour Intervention Program teacher told the principal that the other teacher had recorded the incident. Tremblay said she ordered the teacher to delete the video at once, since a release is required for any student to be filmed on school property. The teacher – who still works at the school – said he would delete it immediately, according to Tremblay.

It wasn’t until February of this year that the school’s principal learned a video of the incident still existed and had been uploaded to YouTube by a person using the name “Eric Decker.”

The video was removed in early March after a school board lawyer contacted YouTube. The lawyer argued the video belonged to the school board — given that it was shot on school property, using school board recording equipment and by a school board employee — and so infringed on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Following the removal of the video, Decker contacted the school board’s lawyer through a Gmail email account.

In his email to the school’s lawyer, Decker questioned why the video was removed and didn’t understand how it was a copyright issue. He also wrote that he believed the police and teacher were “in the wrong” on how they handled the issue.

“I think the public has a right to see this,” he wrote. “The public has a right to know what goes on in schools.”

Decker explained that he wasn’t a student at the school, but got a copy of the video from somebody who was and posted it online. He never identified exactly who gave him the video. Attempts by this newspaper to reach Decker at the email address provided were unsuccessful.

The video was again posted to YouTube a little more than a month later by someone using the name “John White.” The video was again removed after the school board complained, only to appear yet again, this time posted by a “James Baker.” A copy of the link to the video was also posted on the social news networking website Reddit by a subscriber using the screen name “jamesbaker12.”

Public reaction to the Reddit post wasn’t positive.

“This kid’s bad day is not for you to share with the world,” one commenter wrote after the link, which has since been removed, was posted.

“That school team and the police responders were wonderful. You never want a situation to get to that point but when it does, you can only hope everyone is as calm as they were,” the commenter added. “Take it down and try to be a better human being moving forward.”

The school board says it was unable to determine if all three videos were posted by the same person, although it appears the second and third videos were identical to the initial post.

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour

More teachers and classroom staff are calling in sick at Ottawa’s public school board, and the cost of hiring substitutes to replace them is rising. 

At a time when the board is chopping jobs and programs to make up a budget shortfall, more money is being poured into paying an army of substitute teachers, as well as staff to replace the educational assistants and early childhood educators who book off sick.

The average number of sick days taken by all those classroom workers has risen over the past five years, according to statistics provided by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. Elementary teachers, the largest group of employees at the board, took an average of 7.87 days of sick leave in 2010-11, for example. That climbed to 9.73 days in 2014-15. Sick days taken by secondary teachers increased to 9.14 days from an average of 7.84 days in that same time period. 

The increase for other workers in the classroom was comparable or higher. Sick days taken by the educational assistants who help children with special needs rose from an average of 10.09 days to 13.53 days in that time period, while the average number of sick days taken by the early childhood educators who work alongside teachers in kindergarten went from 6.94 days to 11.44 days.

Sick-leave statistics are still being compiled for the current school year, but it’s clear the trend is continuing. Staff have recommended adding an extra $1 million to the “occasional teacher” budget next year, “based on recent experience.”

“We did the same last year, which proved to be inadequate,” the budget report says.

“It just keeps going up and up,” said trustee Mark Fisher at a budget meeting. The board can’t afford to keep adding more money for substitute teachers, he said in an interview. “I have some concerns in terms of what is happening in the organization that is causing it. How do you respond to it? We’ve been talking about this for years, and clearly what we’re doing isn’t working.”

He wants the board to do a “deep dive” into the issue, to root out the causes and find solutions. Other trustees and board staff say they don’t know the cause, either, but speculate it may be related to a change in sick-leave provisions in teacher contracts, labour unrest, stress in the classroom and an aging workforce. 

The amount the board spends to hire substitute teachers has been rising steadily, and was approximately $15 million this year. About two-thirds of that amount was to replace teachers off sick, with the rest used to replace teachers off for other reasons, including maternity-paternity leave, personal days or workplace safety insurance absences.

Then there is the continuing expense of paying the salaries of classroom educators who book off sick. That cost in 2014-15, for example, was estimated at $11.24 million to replace teachers, educational assistants and early childhood educators on sick leave. Some things are hard to put a price on, such as the effect on children’s education when substitutes take the place of their teachers.

The issue should be a priority, said Fisher, noting that trustees spend a lot of time debating relatively minor budgetary items. Case in point: parents pleaded with trustees at a budget meeting last week to save after-school piano lessons, because the extracurricular arts program is on the budget chopping block to save $48,000 a year. 

Both the board and teachers have an interest in reducing sick-leave costs, Fisher said. The money saved could be invested in the classroom, and on programs to help students that teachers agree are needed, he said.

The problem is not unique to Ottawa. Across Ontario, elementary teachers and education workers took more sick days in 2014-15 than four years earlier, according to a report by School Boards’ Co-operative Inc., an organization established by Ontario school boards to provide advice on compensation issues. The increases across the province weren’t as significant as in Ottawa, though, and among secondary teachers there was actually a decline. Ontario elementary teachers took an average 7.7 days off sick in 2010-11, rising to 8.46 in 2014-15, according to the report, which included data from 55 school boards. It found that the average number of sick days taken by secondary teachers declined slightly in that time period, from 7.68 days to 7.55 days.

Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals has suggested there’s a link between rising sick-leave rates and a contract the government imposed on teachers in 2012 that ended the banking of unused sick leave for a cash payout on retirement. “There’s no reason to believe that they’re actually sicker than they were two years ago,” Sandals remarked this spring. “It would appear that there is a relationship between the belief that they lost something and taking more sick days.”

In a statement from her office, Sandals clarified that teachers are professionals and she “does not believe the majority of teachers are abusing the system.”

No one has studied the reasons for rising sick-leave rates among teachers, as far as he’s aware, says Charles Pascal, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and a former deputy minister in the Ontario Ministry of Education.

But human nature being what it is, it’s easy to speculate that some teachers have adopted a “use them or lose them” approach to sick days because they can no longer be banked for a cash payout, he said.

Banking sick leave was an “unsustainable and ridiculous policy” that gave teachers an incentive to go to school when they were ill, he said.

That incentive is now gone, so some teachers who have a bad cold, for instance, may be more likely to book off sick, he said. That may be better for everyone in the school, as they aren’t spreading illness.

The issue is nuanced, and more research needs to be done, said Pascal.

Ottawa trustee Shawn Menard noted that teachers and other education workers have also gone through labour disputes over the past six years. There were work-to-rules, withdrawals of service and vitriolic debate in the media during contract negotiations. “That doesn’t create a happy staff, that is recognized for the value they bring.”

“A happy staff call in sick less.” 

Helping ensure staff are happy and appreciated will help reduce the number of sick days taken by teachers, says trustee Shawn Menard.

A teachers’ union official says there’s no evidence teachers are taking unwarranted sick days.

“I don’t believe it’s people abusing the sick leave,” says Janet Fraser, a vice-president of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers Federation. “Generally speaking, (teachers) aren’t malingerers.” 

She speculates that teachers are taking more sick days because they are under such stress in the classroom. Teachers cope with an increasing number of students with autism, behaviour problems, anxiety and depression,  she said. “The stress in the schools is ridiculous. We have teachers falling like flies.”

Her office hears from stressed-out teachers who say that maintaining control has become more difficult under the province’s “progressive discipline” approach.  “Even the good kids know they can get away with bad behaviour because there are no consequences.

“You send them to the office and they’re given a sucker, a candy or an iPad to play on.”

Fraser recently heard from a Grade 2 teacher who has to “evacuate” her classroom nearly every week because of the disruptive behaviour of one pupil, who trashes the place. “She says she’s going to be off on stress leave if something doesn’t happen.” Another teacher called to report a student threatened to kill her. “The kids are running the schools.”

“When you have people working in a stressful situation like that, they get sick.”

She doesn’t doubt that sick leave is increasing. “We know these numbers are up. People phone us in our office all the time in tears: ‘I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’m so upset about the way things are going.'”

In Ottawa, the problem was flagged years ago, before the 2012 contract changes.

A  consultant’s report in 2010 warned that the cost of replacing sick teachers was soaring. The report found that expenditures associated with sick leave had increased by 21.8 per cent in four years. In an echo of comments today, trustees at the time said they couldn’t identify a reason. The report suggested implementing an “attendance management” program to decrease absences.

The board now has a program in place to identify employees who have “excessive absenteeism” and to “offer assistance and support,” as well as to “encourage regular, punctual attendance at work through the use of preventative measures,” according to a statement from the board. The program is not intended to be disciplinary.

The goal is to help sick employees return to work, including allowing them to work part-time or making accommodations to ease the transition, said trustee Lynn Scott. But employees don’t always see the program as benign, she acknowledged. “We have worked hard to make it clear that the objective is to help people, but that’s not always how it’s interpreted.”

Fraser said such programs can be helpful, depending on how they are implemented. A couple of years ago, the board sent out letters to teachers who had been sick for more than 10 days, reminding them that it was important to come to work, she said. “That went over like a lead balloon.” She recalls one teacher who had rarely been ill, but was recovering from serious surgery. That teacher had already planned to come back to school earlier than her doctor recommended because she felt an obligation to her students. “And she gets this letter saying ‘Guess what? You should be at work.’ Well, that’s insulting.”

It would be different if the board targeted problems, such as teachers who tend to be ill on Fridays and Mondays, she said.

It’s difficult to make direct comparisons with the sick leave taken by workers in private-sector jobs. Statistics Canada says full-time Canadian workers lost an average of 7.4 days in 2015, but that includes both illness and disability. 

Officials at the Ottawa Catholic School Board declined to provide information about sick-leave rates, saying this newspaper would have to request them through freedom-of-information legislation.

jmiller@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/JacquieAMiller

Women have a long way to go

Re: Clinton evokes mixed feelings, June 9.

Hillary Clinton becoming the U.S. Democratic party nominee is a big deal because more than 16 million people voted for her in the primaries. Kim Campbell was chosen to lead the Progressive Conservative party in 1993 by only 1,817 delegates (out of 3,469 votes cast) and she only became prime minister because Brian Mulroney resigned. No woman in Canada has been chosen by the general public to be the leader of a federal political party, let alone prime minister and we certainly did not choose the Queen to be our head of state. As Conservative MP Michelle Rempel said, we have a long way to go in Canada.

Sandra Graham, Ottawa

A prayer for the Americans

Many believe in the power of prayer. Americans are now facing reality. It’s a rather harsh reality, really, but it’s a reality nevertheless: Hillary Clinton will be their next president.  If ever there was a time to say it, now would be it.

God Bless America.

Jill Young, Ottawa

Don’t drop non-credit courses

For the past three terms, I have been taking Dutch language lessons through the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s adult general interest classes. During our last class of the term, we were informed that the board is looking to end its offering of adult not-for-credit courses, due to financial concerns. I am very disappointed in this news.

Over the past two years, with the classes I have taken through the OCDSB, I have become proficient in Russian and Dutch, learned home maintenance skills, and gained general handyman abilities. These courses are self-funding – there needs to be a minimum number of students to fund a teacher – while still being reasonably priced. But it’s more than that.

These courses offer new learning opportunities for everyone, be it in languages, bike repair, cooking or history, and gave me the confidence to try new things. I have learned much, but I was also able to meet new people, the classes helped me feel at home in Ottawa. The loss of the community-building aspect of these courses would make the people and the city of Ottawa a much poorer place. I hope the OCDSB reverses its decision.

Kirsten Twidale, Ottawa

Perhaps we need God in our schools

I do not question the fact that our country is in crisis. Crime, shootings, suicides, climate change – the list could go on and on. Has it ever occurred to anyone that some of these basic problems can be traced back to the time we took God out of our schools and public life by legislating against prayer.  The result is that young people have no anchor, no moral compass and no hope.

Ruth Stanley, Ottawa

Substitute teachers are professionals

Re: More teachers booking off sick at Ottawa’s public school board, June 6.

As a substitute teacher for 20 years, I take exception to the comment in this article questioning “the effect on children’s education when substitutes take the place of their teachers.”

This “army of supply teachers” referred to are highly educated, fully qualified, professional teachers. We are vital, valuable and involved members of the education system. We work closely with other teachers and school administrators to help all students meet their educational and social goals. Travelling from school to school, substitute teachers also bring a wealth of experience and creative ideas to each class they teach.

We are fully certified teachers who follow the lessons plans of absent teachers and implement the Ontario curriculum to ensure a seamless continuation of each child’s education. This is our “effect.”

Heather Steele, B.Sc., B.Ed., Merrickville

A farcical plan for Canada 150

Re: Cheers, jeers at info session on controversial Mooney’s Bay playground, May 31.

The dilapidation and destruction of the Susan Holloway Fitness Park was accomplished on the sly, without notice or public discussion.  And now it is gone for good, together with major trees and a large portion of a green wonderland.  What a tribute to a great athlete and Ottawa resident – in an Olympic year.

And for what? A moment of spurious TV glory. What is projected is, in fact, a backward-looking plastic monster, a thing of a bygone era. We are to get a “playground” in the shape of Canada!! Who came up with that farcical notion? Who cares about the shape of a playground? Visitors from other places have flocked to Mooney’s Bay for many years to enjoy its natural beauty and its simple structures. Has there ever been a cry for contrived PR stunts and the creation of our own Disneyland on the Rideau?

If this is what our politicians are going to be getting up to for our sesquicentennial next year, let’s skip it altogether.

Eric Bergbusch, Ottawa

The first two reviews start in September: a study of 22 elementary and four high schools in the west end-Merivale area; and a study of the three high schools in the east end of Ottawa. Staff say it’s too early to identify changes to particular schools, but the magnitude of the closures required is clear from the estimate of six elementary schools. That represents more than a quarter of all the public elementary schools in the area.

A high school will also probably be closed after the first two reviews, says the report. The likely targets are Gloucester or Rideau, two of the three schools that make up the review of east-end high schools. Both are less than half full, while the other high school in the area, Colonel By Secondary, is over capacity.

The third review, of 20 schools in the Alta Vista-Hunt Club area, begins in April 2017. Decisions could be implemented by September 2018. That review will probably result in the closure of another high school, says the report.

The public school board was able to reduce proposed cuts to classroom workers Monday night when it passed its most difficult budget in years.

The $864.8-million budget approved by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board still dips into classroom educators while also chopping everything from school office staff to building maintenance. 

Trustees also eliminated the board’s general-interest courses for adults, and a program that offers piano and other arts classes to kids after school.

The board, which faced a significant budget shortfall, must concentrate on its main job of educating students from kindergarten to Grade 12 during school hours, said director of education Jennifer Adams.

Trustees worked hard to minimize cuts to the classroom.

Staff had initially suggested eliminating four ESL teachers, 10 educational assistants, who help special-ed students, and a social worker.

But at the suggestion of trustee Shawn Menard, staff was asked to find $400,000 in other cuts instead that would not affect programs or staff.

Staff came up with the savings by recalculating how many early childhood educators would be required in kindergarten classes next year, saving $250,000; chopping $100,000 from the budget for operating buildings; and cutting $50,000 from legal services.

Trustees agreed to use the $400,000 to add back one ESL teacher, five educational assistants and a social worker.

Several trustees said they are concerned about how the board will be able to provide services for an influx of 500 Syrian refugee children who don’t speak English. Some of the children are behind in school after spending several years as refugees, and others are traumatized or have medical and mental health challenges. 

The budget makes a wide range of cuts.

The extracurricular arts program that allowed students to take lessons at schools after hours is gone, saving of $48,000 a year.

Getting rid of the general-interest courses will save $267,000 a year. Last year 5,700 people took the courses, which range from piano and guitar lessons to Japanese flower arranging, scrapbooking and financial planning. About 200 courses are offered each year, said continuing education principal Bruce Whitehead.

A spokesperson for the union representing support staff told trustees that she was disappointed by cuts to school office staff, saying they are already “worked to the bone.” More work is being piled on office staff, who must operate safety buzzers, deal with concussion management and update software, said Nancy Akehurst.

The board has been making changes all year to whittle down a budget shortfall of $14.4 million that arose after several years of using an accumulated surplus to fund programs and staff not covered by provincial grants. The surplus was used, for example, to pour more money into special-education, to hire extra educational assistants and school office staff. That surplus is now gone.

Trustees also agreed with a proposal from trustee Mark Fisher to study why teachers, educational assistants and early childhood educators are booking off sick more often over the past several years, straining the budget for substitutes to replace them. 

Major budget changes:

$2.7 million: Extra annual funding from the province when the board makes kindergartens bilingual beginning in September

$565,000: Annual savings from reduced staff due to the introduction of bilingual kindergartens and the reduction of the amount of English taught in early French immersion classes

$550,000: Annual savings from reducing segregated classes for children with learning disabilities from a full day to half a day

$1.3 million: Revenue gained by increasing fees for before and after-school programs

$403,200: Annual savings by cutting four learning resource teachers

$293,700: Annual savings by cutting three ESL teachers

$493,350: Annual savings by cutting 11.25 office assistants in schools 

$235,500: Approximate annual savings by cutting five education assistants

$267,000: Annual savings by eliminating general-interest courses for adults 

$48,000: Annual savings by eliminating the extracurricular creative arts program, which offers piano and other lessons for children after school

School closures usually result in long, pitched battles: one parents’ group against another; parents against trustees; taxpayers with children against taxpayers without. The students are caught variously somewhere in the middle. 

It’s an unhappy but unavoidable situation: The cash-strapped Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is doing reviews of schools in different areas of the city. Six of 22 elementary schools in the west end/Merivale area could end up closing. As well, a high school in the east end is also likely to close. 

It will all raise strong emotions, but there’s no escaping the numbers. Some neighbourhoods don’t have enough kids in them to fill schools: currently 11,500 seats sit empty across the board. The school board is spending on these partly empty schoolhouses to give programming to fewer and fewer children — and the services are available elsewhere. “Maintaining excess school space negatively impacts all students,” a report to the board of trustees says. 

The province – debt-ridden though willing to spend on such schemes as electric car subsidies or paying teachers’ unions for bargaining costs – used to offer money keep under-used schools running. It will be eliminating that funding. 

These cold facts offer no consolation to parents, students, teachers or even the board. The fact is that the OCDSB had to face down a budget shortfall of $14.4 million for 2016-17. It’s cutting programming and staff. Savings need to be found somewhere. Board Chair Shirley Seward says the hope is that when schools are closed and consolidated, those that remain will be better institutions because more kids under one roof allows more variety in subjects and programming.

Sadly, it just makes sense to close some schools: Thirty-two elementary schools are at less than 65-per-cent occupancy and four high schools are half-empty. But the review must be done carefully, with proper public consultation. Parents and students need to feel they’ve been heard, their viewpoints respected. 

What the board needs to avoid is the kind of last-minute discovery that took place during the Elgin Street School debate, where, amidst a fierce fight, a law professor suddenly informed the board that its plans violated the Education Act. In short, staff had better know what they are doing.

One thing that is heartening is that the review will gather input from older students — a conversation likely to help everyone. And the plan isn’t just to close the schools with the lowest enrolment: the state of repair of the buildings, for example, will be taken into consideration. 

There will be angst. But a cautious, informed approach, showing sensitivity to people’s concerns, is the key to this process. And everyone needs to understand that sometimes you can’t escape simple economics. 

Police have charged a former teacher with a historical sexual assault dating to the 1980s, and investigators are concerned there may be more victims.

The Ottawa police’s sexual assault and child abuse unit charged Robert Clarke, 72, of Morrisburg on Wednesday, following an investigation into allegations he inappropriately touched one his male students.

The incidents are alleged to have occurred in the 1980s, according to police, when Clarke was teaching with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.

Clarke was charged with one count of sexual assault, but Staff Sgt. Angela McDade said there are concerns there could be more victims, and are appealing to the public for any victims to come forward.

“The Ottawa Police will respect a victim’s wishes to pursue or not pursue the matter before the courts,” said McDade. “The reporting of these incidents by victims to police is key for investigators to identify suspects and determine crime trends.”

Clarke is due to appear in court on July 11.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944 or phone Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS) or toll-free at 1-800-222-8477.

When Melanie Good pulled the letter from school out of her son’s backpack, she was puzzled. “Student learning and accommodation planning – multi-year plan,” said the headline.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, the letter said, is planning to conduct reviews “to ensure that we continue to offer the best learning environments for students while ensuring the effective use of education funding and school space.”  The reviews will “provide an opportunity to review, rethink and in some cases, re-create better learning environments for our students.”

How nice, she thought. The school board wants to make sure children at Regina Street Public School, where her son, Ryan Aikin, attends kindergarten, are learning what they should be learning. The truth dawned slowly, after Good checked the school board website and talked to a woman who works at the day-care centre run out of the school.

“She said ‘No, it means we might be on the chopping block.’ I’m like, ‘What?!’ ”

In plain English, the letter might have said: Attention parents: the school board plans to close or change programming at some schools in the west end of Ottawa, and yours may be one of them.

But Good and other parents are waking up to what is afoot, and getting ready to fight. 

The “accommodation reviews” are being done because enrolment is declining at Ottawa’s public school board and there are 11,500 empty pupil spaces sprinkled across the district. Buildings aren’t located where they are needed, leaving some schools half empty and other crowded. 

It’s a complicated puzzle that will take five painful years of reviews to resolve. This fall the board launches the first two: one of 26 schools in the west end and the other of three high schools in the east end. 

Regina Street Public School is a short walk to Mud Lake where they experience different kinds of wildlife. Tony Caldwell

As many as six elementary schools in the west end may have to close, according to staff estimates. They aren’t saying which ones, and it won’t be based on enrolment alone. But there are some strong clues. Staff have warned the board will have to consolidate English programs because the number of students enrolled in them is dwindling as the popularity of French immersion soars.

There will probably be changes among the half-dozen English-only schools in the western area that have low enrolment. Schools like Regina Street PS, which was built for 300 students but now contains about 150.

Those numbers don’t tell the whole story, parents are quick to point out. A large day-care centre in the building occupies space that used to contain several classrooms.

And, they say, numbers certainly don’t convey the spirit and value of the small school.

Regina Street PS has a friendly, small-town feel, says Good, who attended the school herself. Kids in Grade 6 say hello to her son in SK, she says. “It’s fantastic. You’re recognized as a person. You have a name … we all know everybody. Everybody is welcome, everybody is accepted. It’s where I’d like my son to go as long as possible.”

Good questions the trend toward consolidating programs into larger schools. “Where is the research that says bigger schools are better?” 

Parents also say Regina Street PS is unique because it’s right next to Mud Lake, a wetland along the Ottawa River that every student in the school gets to explore year round. Classes visits Mud Lake at least once every two weeks, says principal Rob James. The lessons from nature walks are incorporated into everything from math to art and science. Sometime the children just sit quietly, then write about what they heard. They draw pictures and conduct science experiments. Depending on the season, they can spot turtles, herons, beavers and wild turkeys.  “It’s phenomenal,” says James. Recently, the kids spotted some pileated woodpecker babies. “You could see their little mouths chirping.” 

“The kids really care about Mud Lake.”

Lorrie Vidalin, Merivale High School Council Chair, is photographed in front of the high school, which is one of the schools that is being reviewed in the west end for possible closure.

Mud Lake is an invaluable resource that would be lost to the children if the school closes, says parent Heather Amundrud. Her son, who is in Grade 1, came home recently to announce: ” ‘Guess what we saw at Mud Lake! We saw a whole family of screech owls!’ He gets so excited about it.

“The green space is so important for kids.”

Amundrud says she feels the accommodation review is being sprung on parents just as school lets out for the summer, making it more difficult for them to organize.

“It doesn’t seem fair that they are talking about school closures when school is out for the summer.  Staff isn’t there to talk to, teachers aren’t there, the parents are all gone, trying to keep kids busy over the summer, they aren’t thinking about this.

“But we’re hoping we can get organized now.”

The western area review also includes four high schools: Merivale, Sir Robert Borden, Bell, and Woodroffe.

Merivale has the lowest enrolment, at about 45-per-cent capacity. But one of those four schools is set to get an International Baccalaureate, a rigorous academic program. The school board has recommended setting up an IB program in the west because the only one now, at Colonel By Secondary School in Gloucester, is full and can’t meet the demand.

The chair of the parent council at Merivale High School, Lorrie Vidalin, says she hopes the school will be chosen for the IB program rather than closed.

The school board has already recommended the first two accommodation reviews, and will give final approval to the plan later this month. In September, staff will recommend which schools should change or close, and trustees are supposed to make a final decision by the end of February, 2017.

jmiller@postmedia.com

twitter.com/JacquieAMiller

An Ottawa teacher has been charged with sexual assault after police allege she was sexually involved with a male student under the age of 16.

Kyla Cowan-Wilson is charged with sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching and sexual interference.

Ottawa police said the alleged sexual offences occurred during the 2013-14 school year while Cowan-Wilson was employed with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. The school board did not reveal the exact school, although Cowan-Wilson had been teaching science at Sir Winston Churchill Public School in Nepean in 2012.

Police said the 32 year old came in from an interview with investigators Tuesday morning and was charged shortly thereafter.

Cowan-Wilson appeared in court by video from the courthouse cells. She wore a blue sleeveless top. Her long blond hair hung over her left shoulder and her hands were cuffed in front of her.

The Crown agreed to release her on a $5,000 bond with her husband Matthew Wilson as her surety. Cowan-Wilson held hands with her husband as she walked out of the courthouse to a waiting car following her release from custody.

Her release conditions included not to have contact with any males under the age of 16 unless her husband or the boy’s parents were present.

Cowan-Wilson must also stay out of public parks, playgrounds, swimming areas and school yards and not hold a job where she is in a position of trust or authority over children under the age of 16.

She was also ordered not to communicate with the complainant and three other people, including a witness and a pair of mothers.

Her next court date was set for July 25.

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board said Cowan-Wilson was no longer employed by the board.

“As soon as the complaint was lodged the teacher was removed from the classroom and did not return,” OCDSB communications officer Sharlene Hunter wrote in an email.

Hunter said the board would not identify the school “as it might identify the victim” and says it is working with police on the investigation.

Police said the complainant came forward this year. Investigators are concerned there could be more victims.

In addition to teaching, Cowan-Wilson also had her own photography business.

Both Cowan-Wilson and her husband declined to comment on the allegations as they left court.

According to their Facebook pages, the couple married in August 2013. Police allege the sexual offences occurred during a period between September 2013 and September 2014.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa Police Service sexual assault/child abuse unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944 or Crime Stoppers at 613-233-8477 (TIPS) or toll free at 1-800-222-8477.

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour

Canada is a proudly multicultural society, and equality is enshrined in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is defended by our courts. Viewed this way, it may seem implausible that we could be afflicted with white privilege.

Sadly, life has a way of shocking us out of our ignorance. On Sunday, witnesses say, Ottawa police violently arrested a mentally ill black man, putting him in hospital. He died Monday. He may have been troubled, but what had he done to warrant this?

It’s easy to dismiss this case as a simple, colour-blind arrest with a tragic end, rather than proof of Canadian racism. But what about Sammy Yatim? What about a Chateauguay cop pepper-spraying a family for the offence of sitting in their truck?

What about a black woman being arrested and stripped by Ottawa police for walking down the street? In that case, the officer escaped demotion because the judge felt it would be overly harsh considering his “stellar policing career.” Shortly before that incident, the officer kicked and tasered another woman in custody. For that, he received a light sentence of a 90-day demotion.

What does white privilege look like? It looks like a black woman being harassed, arrested and stripped by the police for no reason. It looks like a white cop getting a slap on the wrist even though he has treated women in custody poorly.

In May, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board was forced to pay $3,500 in damages to a student of Broadview Avenue Public School. In 2012, he was assaulted and called “the N-word” by classmates. He says the school tried to blame him. The board spent four years fighting him. Our institutions failing to protect our citizens – our children – from racial attacks is systemic racism.

Last year, Desmond Cole brought the issue of systemic racism in police forces to prominence with his Toronto Life essay, “The Skin I’m In: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times — all because I’m black.” Cole illustrates the effects of carding, a practice used by Ottawa police and defended by our public officials – a practice that disproportionately targets people of colour. Cole was stopped regularly by police for driving home, walking or being out with a white woman. Common, mundane activities were somehow suspicious when done by a black man.

This is more than inconvenient. It fosters distrust of the police and a sense of “othering” people of colour. Even Cole’s friends questioned him, he says, thinking he must have done something to be questioned by the police.

That’s privilege.

As a middle-class white guy, I’m awash in privilege. I know this, but can’t always see it. Privilege blinds us, and allows us to remain blind.

It takes privilege to play minority groups against each other. It takes privilege to talk about the experiences of Canadians without considering Canada’s First Nations. It takes privilege to ignore the suffering on so many of our reserves. It takes privilege to omit the crisis of thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women when talking about racism in Canada.

But I’ve never suffered under systemic oppression. It is my white privilege that allows me to enter into academic discussions about the existence of racism without ever having experienced it.

A judge has ordered Google to hand over to the Ottawa public school board subscriber information belonging to the accounts of those who posted online a video of an upset student who has autism.

The Internet giant didn’t oppose the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s request for the personal information of the person who posted the video, which the school board said showed an Ottawa police officer and a teacher attempting to calm an agitated student at the Ottawa Technical Secondary School in December 2014.

The board believes the video — which was posted in February under the title “Kid with autism goes nuts” — was put online by one of its own employees. The board hopes the subscriber information can help to confirm the employee’s identity and further disciplinary proceedings. The board also hoped it could prevent any further postings of the video.

Google didn’t send lawyers to the Superior Court hearing last Tuesday. Instead, the school board’s lawyer told the judge that Google had sent an email two months prior to the hearing indicating it wouldn’t oppose the request. The only thing Google asked was that YouTube be removed as a party to the court proceeding. Google owns YouTube.

With no one opposing the motion, the judge ordered that Google provide the school board with the subscriber information and IP logins for a Gmail account belonging to the person who claimed to have posted the video, along with subscriber information and upload IP for another YouTube account holder who posted the video.

The court’s order now compels Google to provide the board with the subscriber information of both the owner of an email address and YouTube account that first posted the video.

Google didn’t reply to requests for comment Wednesday.

In its court application, the school board said it wanted the information to further employee discipline proceedings and copyright actions. 

The school board alleges the video was shot by a teacher at the Ottawa Technical Secondary School on Donald Street on Dec. 1, 2014, when a student began to act out in a “disruptive and violent manner” during class.

According to the OCDSB, the classroom was evacuated before another teacher from the school’s Behaviour Intervention Program and the Ottawa police school resource officer came in to assist.

While that teacher and the police officer were trying to help calm down the student, the classroom teacher turned on a video recording device and recorded the incident, according to the school board’s court application. The teacher was ordered to delete the video at once, the board said.

But in February, the school’s principal learned a video of the incident still existed and had been uploaded to YouTube by a person using the name “Eric Decker.”

The video was removed in early March after a school board lawyer contacted YouTube. The lawyer argued the video belonged to the school board — given that it was shot on school property, using school board recording equipment and by a school board employee — and so infringed on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The board was also concerned about violations of the student’s privacy, since neither he nor his parents consented to the recording or release of the video.

Following the removal of the video, Decker contacted the school board’s lawyer through a Gmail email account and questioned why the video was removed.

Decker said he wasn’t a student at the school, but got a copy of the video from somebody who was and posted it online.

The video was again posted to YouTube a little more than a month later by someone using the name “John White.” The video was again removed after the school board complained, only for it to appear yet again, this time posted by a “James Baker”. A copy of the link to the video was also posted on the social news networking website Reddit by a subscriber using the screen name “jamesbaker12.”

“The OCDSB requires that YouTube and Google disclose the subscriber information and IP address relating to the channels on which the video was uploaded and the registration information for the Gmail e-mail address in order to confirm which of its employees is responsible for posting the content and in order to preserve evidence of same,” the OCDSB wrote in its initial court application.

The board asked for “all information” associated with the accounts of those who posted the video. 

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour

A legendary high school basketball coach and longtime teacher has been charged with sexually molesting four students more than three decades ago.

Donald Greenham, 73, is accused of gross indecency and indecent assault against the four students between 1970 and 1982 while he was employed as a teacher and coach in the Ottawa school system. The three male students and one female student were between 14 and 17 years old at the time of the alleged offences, Ottawa police said.

Greenham’s hands were cuffed in front of him when he appeared in an Ottawa court Monday afternoon by video from the courthouse cellblock.

Greenham will spend at least two more days in jail after the Crown wasn’t prepared to consent to his release. Prosecutor James Bocking said police were still completing their investigation and the Crown was waiting to learn if more charges may be laid.

He is expected to return to court on Wednesday.

At the time of the alleged offences, Greenham was the coach of the Bell Bruins boys’ basketball team. His junior and senior high school teams compiled a 388-35 won-lost record and captured a combined five Carleton board, five Ottawa-Carleton board and three senior regional championship titles. Greenham’s teams also made three OFSAA provincial championship appearances.

He retired as a coach in 1982. At the time, the Citizen reported that he was a teacher at Greenbank Senior Public School. During his career, Greenham also taught at Bayshore Public School and worked as a guidance counsellor at Greenbank Middle School.

Greenham’s son, Scott, is an Ottawa Senators goaltender prospect who plays with the Binghamton Senators. 

Police said the investigation began on June 20 when one of the complainants came forward to report the alleged abuse. Police believe more complainants could come forward.

Police said Greenham is facing 14 charges, including gross indecency, indecent assault on a male and indecent assault on a female. Those were the charges that existed in the Criminal Code at the time of the alleged offences.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Ottawa police sexual assault and child abuse unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5944. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 or by downloading the Ottawa police app.

With files from Shaamini Yogaretnam 

aseymour@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/andrew_seymour

Ottawa’s public school board should close eight schools, a staff report says.

On the hit list are Rideau High School, Greenbank, J.H. Putman and D. Aubrey Moodie middle schools, plus four elementary schools in Ottawa’s west end: Grant, Century, Leslie Park and Regina Street.

It’s the beginning of a painful five-year process to ensure school buildings are located where they are needed across the city.

Enrolment is declining at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. There are an estimated 11,500 empty pupil spaces in a school district with 70,000 students. Some schools are half empty, while others in fast-growing areas are crowded, their yards jammed with portables.

The first two of seven “accommodation reviews” began Wednesday with reports on elementary and secondary schools in the west end and high schools in the east end.

The two reports recommend both closures and changes to programs such as making Severn Avenue PS a centre for early French immersion students, and expanding Sir Robert Borden, Merivale and Bell high schools to include Grades 7 to 12.

There will be months of public meetings, surveys and chances for parents to submit briefs and comments.

Decisions are supposed to be made by March 7, 2017, and most changes would take effect in September 2017.

It’s a complicated puzzle. Staff considered not only the enrolment at each school, but grade configurations and programs, the condition of buildings and which high schools the elementary schools feed into.

School closure debates are often heated and lengthy. Some trustees say it should be easier this time because several policy decisions will guide them. Trustees have voted to phase out middle schools, for instance, so the recommended closure of three of them in the west end is not surprising.

Trustees also want high schools to be large enough to offer a full variety of academic programs, so it was assumed that either Gloucester or Rideau high school in the east would close since both are at less than 42 per cent capacity.

The board wants to add an academically rigorous international baccalaureate program at a west-end high school, because the one offered at Colonel By Secondary School in the east can’t keep up with demand. The report recommends adding the IB program to Merivale High School, which would boost lagging enrolment there.

Parents, meanwhile, have expressed an overwhelming preference for French-immersion programs for their young children. School board staff also promote the benefits of immersion, and starting this fall all kindergarten classes will be bilingual.

Enrolment at English-only elementary schools is dwindling. Four of the eight schools recommended for closure are English program schools with low enrolment.

Trustees now brace themselves for spirited arguments from parents who want to save their schools. Classes resume Tuesday and trustees begin debate on the accommodation reports Wednesday. Some parent councils at low-enrolment schools began organizing around the issue over the summer, while others will be scrambling now.

Most school councils don’t form until late September.

Parent Heather Amundrud, whose son is going into Grade 2 at Regina Street Public School, said the prospect of school closures was sprung on parents just before classes let out for the summer. “Staff isn’t there to talk to, teachers aren’t there, the parents are all gone, trying to keep kids busy over the summer, they aren’t thinking about this,” she said in an earlier interview.

Chair Shirley Seward said the board must respond to population trends. The board is opening three new elementary schools this fall in fast-growing Barrhaven, Orleans and Kanata North. But in other neighbourhoods the school-age population is declining and the province is eliminating the “top up” grants it once awarded to help keep schools with low enrolment running, she said.

The report represents staff’s best efforts to come up with solutions, but it’s not a done deal, said Seward. Trustees will listen carefully to what parents have to say before making a decision, she said.

The Western accommodation review includes 22 elementary and four secondary schools. Among the elementary schools, eight operate at less than 60 per cent capacity, and four operate at more than 100 per cent capacity. The report says there is an excess of 3,837 student spaces in the western area, which would be reduced by 2,074 spaces if the schools are closed as recommended.

The Eastern review includes Rideau, Gloucester and Colonel By high schools. Rideau has a capacity for 966 students but last year had an enrolment of 418. The number of students at Gloucester High School was down to 665 in a school built to hold 1,608. If Rideau High School closes as suggested, students will be diverted to Gloucester High School.

High schools should ideally have a population of 800 in order to provide a wide range of program choices, according to staff.

Across the board, 16 elementary schools have populations of 201 students or fewer. Historically, the board has supplemented course offerings in smaller schools by giving disproportionate staffing to them. However, the board can’t afford to keep paying for unused classrooms, or padding the funding to help small schools maintain a variety of programs, staff warn. Seven accommodation reviews covering the entire district are planned over the next five years.

Important Dates:
Sept. 7: Board meets as committee of the whole to discuss the two reports. The public can make presentations or provide briefs. 7:30 p.m. at the board office, 133 Greenbank Rd.

Sept. 13: The board finalizes the accommodation consultations. 7:30 p.m. at the board office, 133 Greenbank Rd.

Eastern Secondary School Review
The study: Gloucester and Rideau high schools, which are are under 42 per cent capacity, and Colonel By Secondary School, which is at 113 per cent capacity.

Closure recommended:
Rideau High School: Closes in Sept. 2017 and students transfer to Gloucester High School
The result: Among the three schools, there is now an excess of 1,362 student spaces. If the recommendation is adopted, 966 spaces will be cut, bringing the total utilization rate for all three schools to 85 per cent.

Important dates for Eastern Review:
Nov. 1: First public meeting
Jan. 11, 20017: Second public meeting
Feb. 15, 2017: Final report to board’s committee of the whole
March 7, 2017: Board makes a decision

Western Review
The study: Includes 22 elementary schools and four secondary schools in the west end-Merivale area
Recommended closures:
-D. Aubrie Moodie Intermediate School
-Greenbank Middle School
-Leslie Park Public School: Students would attend Briargreen Public School
-Grant Public School: Its alternative students would attend Churchill Public School
-Century Public School: Students would attend either Carleton Heights Public School or Meadowlands Public School depending on place of residence
-Regina Street Public School:Students would attend D. Roy Kennedy Public School
-J.H. Putman Public School: English students would attend Pinecrest Public School and Early French Immersion program students would attend either Agincourt Road Public School or Woodroffe Avenue Public School, depending on place of residence

Recommended grade configuration and program changes
For high schools:
Bell High School, Sir Robert Borden High School, Merivale High School would offer Grades 7 to 12

For elementary schools:
Bells Corners PS: Becomes Grade K-6, offering EFI
Lakeview PS: Becomes Grade K-6, offering English and Middle French immersion
Bayshore PS: Becomes Grade K-6, offering English program
Agincourt PS: Becomes K-8
Woodroffe PS: Becomes K-8
Severn Avenue PS: Becomes centre for French immersion students. English program students would move to Pinecrest or D. Roy Kennedy, depending on place of residence

Important dates for Western Review:
Oct. 27: First public meeting
Jan. 10, 20017: Second public meeting
Feb. 13, 2017: Final report to board’s committee of the whole
March 1, 2017: Board makes a decision