Intermediate Review or Specialist Elimination

Summit Alternative School Council held a special meeting on May 20, 2009 to provide parents with more information regarding the Intermediate Review and its impact on specialist teaching and extracurricular activities offered at Summit Alternative this fall among other issues. 50(+) parents participated and their concerns and recommendations are summarized below.

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has decided to change how intermediate programs are delivered starting this fall. Intermediate schools will be organized on a partial rotary model with a literacy block of 100 minutes of instructional time with the same teacher. Although some specialists will still be offered, this change will result in a shift from the current emphasis on specialty teachers to a more generalist approach.

Although our school Principal, Rita Cardarelli and Vice-Principal were not able to participate unfortunately, parents were offered additional information by OCDSB representative Walter Piovesan, Superintendent of Instruction and Zone 10 School Trustee Jennifer McKenzie. Janet Fraser, 1st Vice President of the Ottawa-Carleton Elementary Teachers' Federation was also in attendance. Summit teachers also attended and provided information as requested in response to parent questions regarding the impact the change is expected to have in their various subject areas next year.

Issues and Concerns

Considerable concern has been expressed about what this change could mean for Summit Alternative and Fisher Public School. These include:

1. Lack of consultation. Summit Council was informed of the change at the last meeting in mid-April, but no consultation with parents has otherwise taken place. While Summit and Fisher staff was consulted it did not appear that their views were taken into consideration in constructing the timetable for the fall. Students have also become engaged with a petition signed by 375 students asking that the process be halted until proper consultation can take place. This petition was presented to our School Trustee at the meeting.
2. Impact of Staff. While it was very difficult for our teaching staff to speak to this issue, it has become clear that the change will have a major impact on them to the extent that at least one staff member will be leaving the school – thus depriving our students of a highly talented and dedicated teacher and potentially many excellent extra-curricular activities she was responsible for at the school. Remaining staff will be forced to prepare for subjects in which they have little expertise and will no longer be able to “teach to their strengths”. Staff morale has certainly been affected.
3. Impact on learning opportunities/quality of teaching: It is not clear at this stage the extent to which the quality of teaching or learning opportunities at Summit will be affected. We are fortunate to have an excellent staff that will do their best to accommodate this change – however, it was the consensus of parents at the meeting as well as the federation representative that it is definitely better to have students taught by teachers with specialist expertise in subject areas rather than teachers with limited or no experience. Workshops offered in the fall will do little to address this problem. In the most extreme case we were made aware of some students may not be able to use the Design and Tech Room because a teacher assigned to teach this subject to them does not have the necessary qualifications. There is also likelihood at this stage that we will have co-ed gym is a huge concern for many parents and students.
4. Impact of extra-curricular activities: It is not certain what activities will be curtailed or cut next year – however this could include drama, BOOM and various sports teams. The key reason for this is that with our teachers being required to prepare for many additional subjects, they will simply not have the time to organize and run many of the wonderful extra-curricular activities that Summit and Fisher students have had access to and the schools have become known for. This is not only a loss for our students and our school, but it is a direct misrepresentation of the offerings presented at recent Open Houses to incoming parents and students earlier this year. It also means that we will not be making full use of the terrific secondary school facilities which we have at Summit/Fisher.
5. Preparation for Secondary School: The current rotary/specialist model is viewed by parents as an excellent preparation for secondary school. While there are potential benefits to having “fewer teacher contacts”, the system in place now offers a solid transition to the next level for grade 7-8 students.
6. Generic Model not always the Best: Parents stressed that Summit Alternative has a different approach that should be respected. A “one size fits all” model should not be forced on this (or any) school. That said, it was acknowledged that Summit is already doing many of the things that the intermediate review would like to see happen – including cross-curricular, integrated and team teaching approaches. It was strongly felt that we are very close to what is desired by the OCDSB and that the programs we have now should be left as is. “If it ain’t broke – why fix it?!” Others suggested that perhaps the Board should be taking a closer look at Summit “best practices” as potential models instead of working to dismantle the excellent offerings we have in place now.

Recommendations and Next Steps:

1. A motion will be drafted asking the board to delay implementation until further consultation with parents has taken place.
2. A petition signed by 375 students with a similar request and outlining their concerns for their school has been provided to our trustee.
3. Acting school administration and staff will meet to re-examine the current timetable and seek possible adjustments at the request of OCDSB rep.
4. Information on further developments will be provided to parents ASAP.
5. As an aside to this exercise, Summit Council will formally request that our principal have a solid understanding and experience with the alternative approach and teaching philosophy as this has been deemed part of the problem with the implementation of the intermediate review at our school.

Contacts

Jennifer.Adams@ocdsb.ca

Lyall.Thomson@ocdsb.ca