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Dear Lisgar parents & guardians,
You’ll find below the article that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen this morning regarding Trustee Shea’s motion.
You and your children may be interested in attending the meeting tonight, in order to hear what happens firsthand. The location has already been shifted to the board room, so there is room for a crowd. However, would you help us get the word out to the students that decorum is absolutely required? It will be important to be properly respectful, as rowdy or vocal behaviour could do significant damage. Just having everyone there, quiet and watchful, will send the powerful message we want the Board to receive.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 at 133 Greenbank Road .
Thank you!
Rachel
Shut down Lisgar gifted classes: trustee
East end representative wants students moved to Gloucester
By Matthew Pearson, The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2010
OTTAWA — An Ottawa public school board trustee wants to shut down the popular gifted program at Lisgar Collegiate Institute and transfer students to Gloucester High School , an idea roundly rejected by students, parents and trustees.
John Shea, who represents Orléans-Cumberland, says the Ogilvie Road school is accessible by public transit, can accommodate an influx of new gifted students and has the teachers needed to offer the specialized program.
“The gifted program, if it was moved from Lisgar to Gloucester , would take off,” he said. “I know it’s almost considered heresy to disrupt the gifted program at Lisgar, but I think trustees really need to discuss issues like these.
“We’re supposed to be looking at things objectively and making strategic decisions that are going to put this district ahead of the game.”
A staff report has recommended maintaining gifted programs at Bell High School , Lisgar Collegiate and Merivale High School , and shuttering programs at Glebe Collegiate and Gloucester , effective September 2011.
Students at the Glebe and Gloucester schools would be given a one-time option of remaining at whichever school they’re attending, returning to their designated school or switching to Lisgar for the gifted program.
Lisgar has the board’s highest gifted enrolment with 326 students, compared with Gloucester ’s 14.
Shea would like to amend the staff recommendations so gifted programs at Glebe and Lisgar would close.
He said it comes down to equity of access as students in the central or eastern parts of the city would have to travel to Merivale in order to get the French Immersion gifted program. Shea said Gloucester has a long-established French Immersion program, while Lisgar only offers the Extended French program.
He added Gloucester is also a larger school and has 700 vacant pupil spaces, while Lisgar is close to capacity.
But Somerset-Kitchissippi trustee Jennifer McKenzie said the majority of students who attend Lisgar for its gifted program live in the catchment areas for either it or Glebe Collegiate.
“To ask them to take a long bus ride out to Gloucester simply because there’s space doesn’t make sense,” McKenzie said. “I’m hoping common sense will prevail and that the amendment, if it’s put on the floor, will be defeated.”
That sentiment appears to be shared by Lisgar students and parents.
Rachel Eugster, co-chair of the Lisgar School Council, said parents are “baffled and concerned” by Shea’s amendment.
In a submission to the board’s education committee — where the staff report and Shea’s amendment will be discussed Monday night — Eugster said 38 per cent of elementary parents surveyed boardwide named Lisgar as the preferred gifted site for their children, more than 12 times the number who picked Gloucester .
At 30 per cent, Lisgar’s gifted program also represents a far greater proportion of its student body than any other gifted centre. Removing it would cause, “lasting harm to a successful and thriving school,” Eugster said.
For students like 16-year-old Sandro Young, the gifted program has provided the best of both worlds: a school community where the gifted and non-gifted programs are well integrated, but where gifted students like him feel at home amongst their peers.
“When you’re with people who think the same way you do, you feel a lot more accepted and you don’t feel ashamed of being who you are,” he said.
mpearson@thecitizen.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
BY THE NUMBERS
The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2010
Enrolment numbers for specialized gifted programs
YEAR: 07/08 08/09 09/10
Bell High School 210 188 184
Glebe Collegiate Institute 73 55 47
Gloucester High School 31 22 14
Lisgar Collegiate Institute 309 317 326
Merivale High School 89 89 62
Source: Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
You’ll find below the article that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen this morning regarding Trustee Shea’s motion.
You and your children may be interested in attending the meeting tonight, in order to hear what happens firsthand. The location has already been shifted to the board room, so there is room for a crowd. However, would you help us get the word out to the students that decorum is absolutely required? It will be important to be properly respectful, as rowdy or vocal behaviour could do significant damage. Just having everyone there, quiet and watchful, will send the powerful message we want the Board to receive.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 at 133 Greenbank Road .
Thank you!
Rachel
Shut down Lisgar gifted classes: trustee
East end representative wants students moved to Gloucester
By Matthew Pearson, The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2010
OTTAWA — An Ottawa public school board trustee wants to shut down the popular gifted program at Lisgar Collegiate Institute and transfer students to Gloucester High School , an idea roundly rejected by students, parents and trustees.
John Shea, who represents Orléans-Cumberland, says the Ogilvie Road school is accessible by public transit, can accommodate an influx of new gifted students and has the teachers needed to offer the specialized program.
“The gifted program, if it was moved from Lisgar to Gloucester , would take off,” he said. “I know it’s almost considered heresy to disrupt the gifted program at Lisgar, but I think trustees really need to discuss issues like these.
“We’re supposed to be looking at things objectively and making strategic decisions that are going to put this district ahead of the game.”
A staff report has recommended maintaining gifted programs at Bell High School , Lisgar Collegiate and Merivale High School , and shuttering programs at Glebe Collegiate and Gloucester , effective September 2011.
Students at the Glebe and Gloucester schools would be given a one-time option of remaining at whichever school they’re attending, returning to their designated school or switching to Lisgar for the gifted program.
Lisgar has the board’s highest gifted enrolment with 326 students, compared with Gloucester ’s 14.
Shea would like to amend the staff recommendations so gifted programs at Glebe and Lisgar would close.
He said it comes down to equity of access as students in the central or eastern parts of the city would have to travel to Merivale in order to get the French Immersion gifted program. Shea said Gloucester has a long-established French Immersion program, while Lisgar only offers the Extended French program.
He added Gloucester is also a larger school and has 700 vacant pupil spaces, while Lisgar is close to capacity.
But Somerset-Kitchissippi trustee Jennifer McKenzie said the majority of students who attend Lisgar for its gifted program live in the catchment areas for either it or Glebe Collegiate.
“To ask them to take a long bus ride out to Gloucester simply because there’s space doesn’t make sense,” McKenzie said. “I’m hoping common sense will prevail and that the amendment, if it’s put on the floor, will be defeated.”
That sentiment appears to be shared by Lisgar students and parents.
Rachel Eugster, co-chair of the Lisgar School Council, said parents are “baffled and concerned” by Shea’s amendment.
In a submission to the board’s education committee — where the staff report and Shea’s amendment will be discussed Monday night — Eugster said 38 per cent of elementary parents surveyed boardwide named Lisgar as the preferred gifted site for their children, more than 12 times the number who picked Gloucester .
At 30 per cent, Lisgar’s gifted program also represents a far greater proportion of its student body than any other gifted centre. Removing it would cause, “lasting harm to a successful and thriving school,” Eugster said.
For students like 16-year-old Sandro Young, the gifted program has provided the best of both worlds: a school community where the gifted and non-gifted programs are well integrated, but where gifted students like him feel at home amongst their peers.
“When you’re with people who think the same way you do, you feel a lot more accepted and you don’t feel ashamed of being who you are,” he said.
mpearson@thecitizen.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
BY THE NUMBERS
The Ottawa CitizenApril 18, 2010
Enrolment numbers for specialized gifted programs
YEAR: 07/08 08/09 09/10
Bell High School 210 188 184
Glebe Collegiate Institute 73 55 47
Gloucester High School 31 22 14
Lisgar Collegiate Institute 309 317 326
Merivale High School 89 89 62
Source: Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
