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Dear Trustees of the OCDSB,
Many of you will be at the table this evening to resume debate around Report 10-001, Re: Number and Location of Secondary Gifted Programs in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, dated 23 March 2010. I would like to present you with the following thoughts prior to tonight's Education Committee Meeting.
The ABC Ottawa Chapter has concerns regarding the tack the current report, and its recommendations, is taking the OCDSB. The OCDSB is a big ship and therefore is not prone to quick movements. However, the recent history of the Secondary Gifted Review has seen a number of sudden turns that risks getting the review off its charted course. The November version of the report recommended closing Merivale as a gifted centre, and in January this suddenly became Glebe and Gloucester. Tonight a further change could be thrown in with the motion to move Lisgar's gifted centre to Gloucester. It is recognized the initial intention of this review was to ascertain the ability of the OCDSB to support six gifted centres. The initial staff review, carried out through a consultation service (Bendel Services, April 2006), also included a recommendation to reduce the number of gifted centres. In fact the Board has since gone to five centres, down from six.
The Board would do well to revisit the recommendations of the Bendel Services Report. Of the eleven recommendations, contained in that report, the only one that seems to have been pursued in earnest is the reduction in the number of gifted centres. This is probably the recommendation of the least importance given the increase in the gifted identification rate at the OCDSB since the review was initiated. The Board's own reports can be used to show there has been a 60% increase in the number of gifted students at the elementary level since 2004/2005 (The number of identified elementary gifted children increased from 857 in 2004/2005 to 1374 in 2009/2010.) It is still unclear why staff has not told the Board of Trustees about this iceberg on the horizon. The report before the Board focuses only on the trends in the secondary gifted centres, and does not address the effect changing the gifted identification criteria in Spring 2005 has had.
Ottawa has a greater percentage of intellectually superior or gifted children among its 15,777 public school pupils than other Canadian cities, according to the Chief Inspectors report just published. (Many High IQs Here, Suggests Segregation of Gifted Students, Ottawa Citizen, 20 June 1953) This was true in 1953 and is still true today the fact remains that Ottawa, and more specifically the public school board, has more gifted children than other cities and school boards in the province. The reasons for this are not hard to imagine. The Director's Report of Fall 2009 even states "...we have the most educated adult population in the country." This educated adult population has children, and a significant subset is gifted.
With this greater than average number of students in a Special Education exceptionality, should come an implied sense of responsibility to do well by these students; to meet their needs and apply sound educational research and best practices to do so. The number of students also allows for economies of scale to be applied. Where "...the body of research that ability-grouped classes, or in Ottawa-Carleton District School Board specialized classes, are a very effective and efficient means of meeting the educational needs of gifted students", it makes sense to offer these classes to as many gifted students as possible. A reduction in the current number of secondary gifted centres today will not support the number of secondary gifted students of tomorrow.
The Bendel Services report concludes with, The OCDSB has a splendid opportunity to take advantage of its considerable success in this area of education but immediate and progressive action is now required. Unfortunately that did not happen. We ask that you don't replace that today by acting in haste, but rather step back to revisit the recommendations of that report and move forward to support a body of students that requires your attention. Remember that community means more than a geographic boundary, that neighbourhood of houses where you live, community can also be a group where you feel accepted and supported. For many gifted children, they find this sense of community for the first time in the school system as they enter a gifted classroom.
As you review the recommendations of this report this evening, ask what is to be gained by implementing the recommendations - and just as importantly ask what will be lost.
Sincerely,
Marc Comeau
ABC Ottawa Chapter President
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