Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Elementary Program Review (OCDSB EPR) and its impact on the Woodpark Community

March 25, 2025

Suzanne Nash, Trustee, OCDSB

Lynn Scott, Chair, OCDSB

Pino Buffone, Director, OCDSB

Dear Trustee Nash, Chair Scott and Director Buffone:

We are writing to you on behalf of the Woodpark Community Association regarding the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s Elementary Program Review (EPR). There is significant

concern about this proposal from parents and community members living in Woodpark. The

neighbourhood of Woodpark is bordered by Woodroffe Ave, Richmond Rd, Kichi Zibi Mikan,

and Carling Ave. Our community has around 2,500 residents and a mix of housing types. Two

Stage 2 LRT stations are situated on the edge of Woodpark and planned and proposed

development will see the area grow substantially in the coming years with city projections from 11,500 to 15,000 residents in the next two decades.

Currently parents have the option to send their children to Woodroffe Avenue Public School (JK-8), D. Roy Kennedy Public School (JK-8), or Regina Alternative School (JK-6). Under the EPR,

parents would be forced to send their children to Regina for JK-3 and Woodroffe for 4-8. We

have summarized concerns from parents below.

Safety

• Children as young as three who can currently safely walk to their community school

  (Woodroffe) will now be forced to bus or walk close to an hour to Regina – across or along

  high traffic roads (Richmond, Kichi Zibi Mikan).

• On-going LRT construction, planned infrastructure updates (Richmond/Byron), and

  approved densification projects (1047 Carling – two buildings of 40 and 38 storeys each,

  Lincoln Fields Secondary Plan), create additional significant hazards around the transport of children from our community to Regina.

Community

• Loss of Woodroffe Avenue Public School as the walkable, community school for JK-8,

  fracturing a community that has been established over decades.

• Loss of access to nearby D Roy Kennedy Public School which has offered the English

  program with core French and would offer both enhanced English and French immersion

  from JK-8 under the current EPR proposal.

• Separation of siblings and the breakup of bonded cohorts of children.

• Decreased involvement in school communities due to distance and separation.

• Existing families in Woodpark will enroll at other school boards to remain at a community

  school or may move out of the neighbourhood to be closer to a community school.

• Prospective new families will choose to live in other neighbourhoods with walkable public

  community schools changing a balanced population mix in the community.

Equity

• Loss of Regina Street as an Alternative School (and loss of the alternative programs in

  general). Families in our community who send their children there love the educators and

  type of student learning offered. They also said that the school also has a higher ratio of

  Indigenous students than other schools and their representation culturally and socially has

  been a big focus.

• Cancellation of 29% of special education programs currently offered with no details provided on how students with special needs will be supported in regular classrooms.- Women, single parents, and families without vehicles would be disproportionately affected by multiple school pickups and childcare disruptions.

Process

• Not enough time for consultation – two months from boundary release to trustee vote.

• Time to implementation of proposed program changes is too short.

• No cost analysis has been provided for the EPR, particularly that around transportation and

  cost to reconfigure schools. For example, Woodroffe has a dedicated kindergarten wing built eight years ago.

• No details have been provided about impacts to Extended Day Programs which are vital for

  working parents and a major stressor for families with young children.

What parents want from the OCDSB and its board

• Delay the vote.

• Keep Woodroffe Avenue Public School a true community school, offering JK-8 with both

  Enhanced English and French Immersion streams.

• Develop an alternate plan with a carve-out for the alternative program and special education supports.

• Show the cost analysis and how schools will be retrofitted to serve their new proposed

  population.

• Reconsider boundary changes that force awkward commutes and unnecessary sibling splits.

• Extend the consultation period to allow consultation on new options and ensure engagement across a wider spectrum of parents, teachers and communities.

Overall, we find the impact to Woodpark to be inconsistent with the EPR’s principle of

community-based education. It will result in the need for Woodpark kids to be bussed when

previously they could walk, unnecessarily increasing transportation costs. Furthermore, we find

it inconsistent with the City of Ottawa direction in its Official Plan to create 15-minute

neighbourhoods. The EPR does not acknowledge the significant need to prepare for a major

increase in population the medium term due to the proximity of Woodpark and its surrounding

school catchment areas to two LRT stations and the increase in density that the city will allow through the Lincoln Fields and New Orchard Cleary Secondary Plans. The OCDSB should be

working with the province to build or expand schools in areas of new mass transit and

intensification as this will have a long lead time.

Respectfully, we ask that you reconsider the EPR considering the parent concerns, particularly

around boundaries and program offerings. We also call upon the OCDSB and the province to

consider school impacts to neighbourhoods such as ours that are along new mass transit corridors and will experience rapid intensification in the coming years.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Hultgren, Director, Woodpark Community Association

Sue Milburn-Hopwood, President, Woodpark Community Association

Cc:

Paul Calandra, Minister of Education

Chandra Pasma, MPP Ottawa West-Nepean