In a marathon board meeting that stretched from 6:00 P.M. until after 10:00, the trustees of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board have voted to preserve and strengthen the Alternative program and work to make its practices more widely available. This was the fourth board meeting on this since early January and again was overflowing with alternative families, friends and supporters.

Now that this decision is behind us, the alternative staff, students and parents can get on with strengthening the program and making its tenets and philosophy more widely known and understood. Most importantly, parents in Ottawa can enroll their children in the program with confidence that this program choice will remain for years to come.

A full list of the motion parts and the trustee voting record.

• May Newsletter (2011/5/7)
• December council meeting cancelled (2010/12/7)
• Ottawa Parent's Eduction Network questionaire available (2010/10/13)
• October Council Newsletter available (2009/10/15)
• Tell us why the Alternative Program should be saved! (2009/9/27)
• Alternative Program Review underway (2009/9/13)
• Alternative Program Review plans released by school board (2009/6/9)
• Revitalization Plans update (2009/1/27)
• November People for Education Newsletter (2008/11/27)
• October Council Meeting - October 15th (2008/10/9)
• Growing up, Feeling Good - November 19th by Maggie Mamen (2008/9/18)
• Parent Engagement Funds (2008/9/18)
• People For Education Conference (2008/9/18)
• 2007 - 2008 Year End Report (2008/9/18)
• Parents Reaching Out (PRO) Grants (2008/9/18)
• Alternative Schools Revitalization Report released (2008/3/18)
• Free Presentation for Parents on Protecting Teens in Cyber-world (2008/1/22)
• Draft Alternative Revitalization Report Available (2007/11/26)
• YMCA Peace Week Evening (2007/10/25)
• Alternative Revitalization Project Launched (2006/11/10)

• Co-operation and Teamwork
  
• Innovative teaching approaches, with shared responsibility amoung staff, students and parents.
  
• Student-directed learning
  
• Multi-aged groupings
  
• Integrated curriculum
  
• Parental Involvement
  
• Anecdotal reporting
  

• Build a sense of community by supporting experiential learning (field trips, Stock Market, carnival, workshops, etc.)
  
• Enhance the home-school relationship
  
• Provide advice and comments to administration, staff & board on areas such as:
  
  
  
  • the school-year calendar;
    
  • the school code of student conduct;
    
  • curriculum and program goals and priorities;
    
  • the responses of the school or Board to achievement in provincial and Board assessment...
    
    Read more...