Parents concerned about sex-ed rollback in Ottawa public schools

People with children in Ottawa's public board got a chance to askboard officials and trustees how changes toOntario'ssex-edcurriculum willaffectwhat's taught in the classroom.

Questions about the rollback of thecontroversial 2015 sex-edcurriculum and the province setting up a complaint line to enforceuse of the 1998 curriculum dominated a parent information meeting at Lady Evelyn Alternative School Thursday evening.

KearaDean, who has a child at Vimy Ridge Public School, said she's worried teachers willsecond-guess themselves when asked questions about sexual or gender identity issues that have beendropped from the curriculum.

"I'm not a teacher, butif I knew there was a snitch line that existed, I would be scared," Dean said.

"I want my teachers to be able to teach and not worry about those things."

Dean said the complaint line was "bullying" and she didn't want the school board to back down.

Clubs, celebrations

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has said the complaint line duplicates its existing complaints process, which allows for more responsive local decision-making.

Dorothy Baker, the OCDSB's superintendent of curriculum services, said there are still ways for schoolstoaddress matters of gender identity and sexual diversity.

"Just because that's not specifically in this curriculum does not mean that we do not have our gay-straight alliance clubs, that we don't have celebrations of the lived experiences of our students," she said.

There are also resources for teachers who have difficulty answering certain questions, she said.

Parent asks how schools will deal with LGBTQ issues outside the curriculum

7 years ago

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Parent Stephanie Bailey asks OCDSB superintendent Dorothy Baker how schools will handle discussions of LGBTQ issues which aren't addressed by the health curriculum.

MalakaHendela, co-chair of the Ottawa-Carleton Assembly of School Councils, said parent councils can help supplement the sex-ed curriculum if they're interested and, she said,they are not part of the board.

"[If] we can do it with STEM [science, technology, engineering, math], there is no reason why we can't do it with any other messagingif a parent council wants it," she said.

JolantaScott-Parker, who has two children aged eight and 11 inOCDSBschools, said she would like to see the public board take a firmer stance on the curriculum.

"What I'm hoping to hear is that our school board is going to take a stand and they will use their expertise as educators to continue to teach what they know our kids need in 2018," Scott-Parker said.

Trustees weigh in

The meeting was hosted by school board trustees representing theOCDSB'scentral zones EricaBraunovan, Chris Ellis and ShawnMenard.

Braunovansaid the board's advocacy committee has already met to see how it can address issues such as the sex-edcurriculum rollback andthe pause on writing Ontario'sIndigenous curriculum.

Ellis and Menard said there will be motions before the board for it to standby teachers if there are any "inappropriate" complaints.

They also talked about the importance of parents raising issues during consultations for the permanent replacement of the 2015 sex-ed curriculum.

Braunavan and Ellis are running for re-election as trustees, while Menard is running for Ottawa city councilbut remainsa trustee until the end of November.

Equity issues

The event included presentations from Tim O'Loanon the importance of the Indigenous curriculum, Richard Sharpe on raced-based data collection and Chris Farley Ratcliffe, interim director of Planned Parenthood Ottawa, on sex ed.

The province has suspendedwriting the second phase of the Indigenous curriculum, which wasoneof the recommendations made bythe Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools.

Sharpe has beenadvocating for the collection of race-based dataon disciplinary and success rates in the board.

He said progress has been slow since trustees voted last spring to collect that data.

The board said it is consulting on how it will format that data and intends to begin collecting it this year.

Menardtold the meeting the boardwould have enough money to proceed with the project, even if the PC government changed the Liberal equity policy that previously backed collecting race-based data.