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CTV News
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
OCDSB trustees locked out of emails
Ottawa Watch OCDSB trustees have been locked out of their emails more than a week after the province announced it was taking over. CTV's Katelyn Wilson.
CTV News
07-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Province locks OCDSB trustees out of emails after takeover
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board administration office is seen in this undated photo. (CTV News Ottawa) Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustees have been locked out of their emails after the province took over the board at the end of June. The Ministry of Education has appointed supervisor Robert Plamondon to oversee the OCDSB, Ottawa's largest school board. The province says the move is aimed at correcting ongoing financial mismanagement after the board posted four consecutive deficit budgets. But critics are questioning the timing. 'The OCDSB actually balanced their budget in this last round, so the fact that now they're moving in with a conservative insider who really has absolutely no background in education, to take over a duly elected board, just really makes no sense,' said Ottawa Centre NDP MPP Catherine McKenney. Trustees had approved an $18 million plan to balance the 2025-26 budget, including the elimination of 135 positions along with spending reductions of $4.98 million for special education, $5.97 million in administration spending and $4.22 million in reductions on instruction. Staff also told trustees the board was exploring long-term savings by selling vacant buildings and possibly cutting some adult high school and special education programs to find savings. The long-term savings plan presented by trustees included looking at a divestment of properties, including McGregor Easson Public School. Now, with trustees locked out of their email accounts, they've lost communication with hundreds of families and it's unclear when the province will reinstate the OCDSB board of trustees. 'We have been left in the dark, parents have been left in the dark, trustees have now been locked out of the system, and we don't know what the process is,' said McKenney. According to the ministry, the supervisor now has full authority over the board's governance including budgets, policies and operations. 'When a school board in Ontario is placed under ministry supervision, the supervision takes over the governance and decision-making functions of the board,' said press secretary Emma Testani, in a statement to CTV Ottawa.
CBC
28-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Province's takeover of OCDSB, other school boards slammed as 'power grab'
Social Sharing When Education Minister Paul Calandra announced the province would be appointing supervisors to four Ontario school boards — including Ottawa's largest — on Friday, he said it was to ensure that "every decision made by the board prioritizes direct support for students in the classroom." But according to several critics in Ottawa, the appointments won't have that effect. The takeover came out of an investigation into several boards launched earlier in 2025 that projected a fifth straight year of financial deficits at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). The province has now appointed consultant Robert Plamondon to oversee the board. In a press conference, Calandra said supervisors like Plamondon will look closely at how the boards are run, find savings and make changes needed to restore responsible management. While an initial assessment of the OCDSB's finances predicted another deficit for 2025-26, trustees did approve $18.1 million in cuts earlier this month in order to balance their budget. "The fact that we have passed this balanced budget and the ministry is still trying to take us over, I don't know where they're expecting to find additional savings," said board trustee Lyra Evans. 'Primary problem' is funding In a press release announcing the takeover, the ministry said the four school boards had exhibited "mismanagement and poor decision-making." It said the OCDSB had "completely depleted its reserves, incurred an accumulated deficit, and plans to use unsustainable proceeds from asset sales to balance its books." Calandra also spoke Friday about frustrated parents and noted the recent resignation of two OCDSB trustees. He also said the budgets for the next school year had yet to be reviewed by staff. According to Evans, the school board's "primary problem" is the funding it gets from the province. "There are huge deltas in things that the ministry has not adequately funded us for," she said, listing a gap between government funding and OCDSB spending on special education and on statutory entitlements like employment insurance and the Canadian Pension Plan. While the province continues to boast its "record funding" for education, Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma says it's actually to blame for any deficits. One recent report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives pegged the provincial funding shortfall to the OCDSB over the last seven years at $338.4 million, while noting its per-student funding has dropped by $560 from the 2018-19 school year and the 2025-26 school year. "If funding had just kept pace since 2018, the Toronto District School Board, Toronto Catholic District School Board and Ottawa-Carleton District School Board would not have [been facing] a deficit this year," said Pasma, the Ontario NDP's education critic. Pasma acknowledged previous instances of financial mismanagement from Ontario school boards, but said there are other ways to deal with misuse of funds that don't amount to an "unmitigated power grab." Need for 'clear, concise rules' on spending Calandra said the appointments were also motivated by how the ministry has "decentralized" decision-making, giving trustees more leeway with budgeting and curriculum choices. "That is where the Ministry of Education has to come back in, to refocus centralized decision making and provide clear, concise rules on how money is to be spent, on what trustees are supposed to be doing, on what boards of education are supposed to be doing," he said. Evans disagreed, saying a supervisor may not understand the needs of different communities. "We have locally elected trustees because it allows us to advocate for our communities and to bring that voice to the district. If we don't have that local voice at the table, then what works in Toronto might not work here," she said. "It's very easy to move in and break things when you have no understanding of why things are the way they are." Plamondon, an author and academic who previously as the interim chair of the National Capital Commission, started in his role as supervisor on Friday.
CTV News
27-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Ontario appoints supervisor to oversee Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
The Ontario government is taking control of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and appointing a supervisor, after Ottawa's largest school board posted four straight deficit budgets, including a projected $9.2 million deficit this past school year. Ontario launched a financial investigation into the school board in April, with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP asked to assess the school board's financial position. Education Minister Paul Calandra announced that following the audit, Robert Plamondon will be appointed supervisor of the board. 'The OCDSB has completely depleted its reserves, incurred an accumulated deficit, and plans to use unsustainable proceeds from the sale of assets to balance its books,' the Ontario government said in a statement. Calandra said the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board has had 'multiple opportunities' to address financial issues, and 'time and again they failed to do so.' Ontario is also appointing supervisors to oversee the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. 'There are decisions that are made at each of these boards where they have chosen to avoid accountability, have chosen not to bring their budgets into balance,' Callandra said. 'If you look at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, not only are they running multi-year deficits. Even when they've promised to come back to balance, they have not lived up to that responsibility. It's a board where multiple trustees, where parents are frustrated over things the board is doing.' Calandra said the supervisors will 'have a clear mandate to get these boards back on track.' 'They'll take a close look at how these boards are run, find savings and make the changes needed to restore responsible management and maximize support for classroom education,' Calandra said. 'Their focus will be on ensuring that every decision made by the board prioritizes direct support for students in the classroom.' Earlier this month, OCDSB trustees approved the $1.2 billion budget for the 2025-26 school year with $18 million in spending cuts. The plan, which eliminates 135 positions, includes spending reductions of $4.98 million for special education, $5.97 million in administration spending and $4.22 million in reductions on instruction. Staff told trustees the board is looking at selling vacant buildings and cutting some adult high school and special education programs to find savings. The long-term savings plan presented by trustees included looking at a divestment of properties, including McGregor Easson Public School. The audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP found the 'majority of savings' initiatives during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years were introduced by OCDSB management without requiring approval. The report shows $35 million in savings were adopted by management without requiring trustee approval, while trustees approved $9 million in savings. Calandra wouldn't say how long Plamondon will remain as supervisor of the OCDSB, saying he has 'whatever time is needed' in order to bring the budget back into balance and 'put them on a sustainable course to financial stability for years to come.' Plamondon will be required to provide the Ministry of Education with regular updates on their work, address the 'deteriorating financial position' of the board and identify where savings measures can be implemented. Zone 9 trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth and Zone 10 trustee Justine Bell resigned from the OCDSB earlier this month.
Ottawa Citizen
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Justine Bell the third OCDSB trustee to resign in less than a year
Justine Bell has become the third trustee to resign from Ottawa's largest school board in less than a year. Article content In a letter to residents in Zone 10 (Somerset), Bell said the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board table 'was often a difficult space, and at times, a toxic one.' Article content Article content Her resignation is effective June 30. Article content 'There are a number of reasons why I'm resigning,' Bell, who has been a trustee for five years, said in an interview. 'The most important is my family.' Article content Article content Bell recently adopted a three-year-old girl from her husband's hometown in Mexico and for the past year and a half has been dividing her time between Ottawa and Mexico, sometimes attending school board meetings via Zoom. Article content Article content Bell said when she's in Ottawa, she spends time visiting schools in the city and remaining in contact with principals and superintendents, and has always answered questions by email immediately. Article content 'I went above and beyond some trustees who were present,' said Bell. Article content Being a trustee is not supposed to be a full-time job. But during a controversial elementary program review that started in the spring of 2024 and continued into this year, being a trustee became more than a full-time gig, she said. Article content 'There are so many ways a trustee can make a difference. For that, I'm really sad that I'm stepping down,' she said. 'The demands on a trustee are full-time. If you want to do it right and do it with heart, it can be a challenge.' Article content Article content The OCDSB's Code of Conduct complaints process has been weaponized and has taken up a lot of time and energy, said Bell who said she has worked hard to improve the environment at the board table, including advocating for respectful dialogue and pushing for a conflict resolution practitioner. Article content Article content 'Let's remember that we're here for the students and not the petty fighting. The entire board allows this to continue. We have to focus on the kids.' Article content Meanwhile, Bell said she's concerned about the next round of reviews, set to begin this fall, which may include changes to continuing education and adult education. Adult high school is one of the few avenues of real integration for newcomers to Ottawa, helping them make social connections get help finding a job, she said.
