Ottawa’s largest school board, overseen by provincially-appointed supervisor Bob Plamondon, will open kindergarten registration at four elementary schools after announcing in December that it would close registration earlier. The ocdsb decision affects Churchill, Regina Street, Riverview and Lady Evelyn and exposes a gap between the board’s enrolment data and neighbouring-school crowding that the article examines.
Bob Plamondon: March 9 ET message reopens Churchill, Regina Street, Riverview, Lady Evelyn
Confirmed fact: A message to parents dated March 9 ET from supervisor Bob Plamondon announced that parents will be able to choose whether to send their children to their currently designated school or to an alternative school site. The announcement reversed a prior notice from Dec. 17 ET that said there would be no junior kindergarten programs in alternative schools next September. Documented: the four named schools—Churchill, Regina Street, Riverview and Lady Evelyn—have alternative programs that the context says are being slowly phased out.
Documented: the March 9 ET message framed the change as affecting a limited number of students and described it as reflecting a commitment to student success and well-being. Plamondon said the approach would keep siblings together and serve families living close to these schools, and that it would manage potential overcrowding without requiring students to change schools.
Ocdsb capacity figures and Broadview overcrowding reveal a localized mismatch
Documented: enrolment and capacity numbers in the record show a mismatch across nearby sites. Lady Evelyn had capacity for 361 students and an enrolment of 94 as of last March. Churchill’s capacity is 387 with 302 enrolled. Riverview’s capacity is 384 with 194 enrolled, and Regina Street has room for 300 with 197 enrolled. By contrast, neighbouring Broadview’s capacity is 806 with 869 students enrolled as of last March, showing crowding next to underused facilities.
Documented: parents had feared that cancelling junior kindergarten enrolment at the four alternative sites would leave more than 200 spots empty, a figure drawn from a count noted in the record. The contrast between under-enrolled alternative sites and nearby over-capacity schools underpins the tension the ocdsb reversal seeks to address.
Stacey Kay, the cancelled program review and the limits of the reversal
Confirmed fact: In a message from director of education Stacey Kay, the board said the four alternative sites will be accepting junior kindergarten students for the 2026-2027 school year. The program will follow a regular full-day, fully bilingual model with 50 percent English instruction and 50 percent French, operating in accordance with existing Alternative school boundaries, Kay wrote.
Documented: the elementary program review, which was cancelled last October, had aimed to meet capacity and access goals but would have required thousands of students to change schools abruptly, a disruption Plamondon said might separate siblings. The record also shows that OCDSB staff will undertake localized planning and accommodation studies where school boundaries could change, beginning with the areas where the four schools are located.
Confirmed fact: parents had organized a protest in front of the board office on Greenbank Road on March 9 ET, but cancelled the demonstration after receiving the announcement. Parent statements in the record praised the reversal: Amanda Case, chair of the parent council at Churchill, called it a win, and Alison Hanvey described the announcement as a relief for families facing potential splits.
What remains unclear is the scope and timeline of the localized planning and accommodation studies the board staff will undertake. The context does not confirm which specific boundary changes, if any, are being proposed or when final decisions will be published. Documented: there has been a moratorium on school closings since 2017, but the record notes that Education Minister Paul Calandra has said underused schools in supervised boards face closures, and the board was placed under supervision in June ET.
If the ocdsb publishes the localized planning and accommodation study results for the four school areas, it would establish whether the reopened junior kindergarten registrations represent a long-term capacity solution or a temporary measure pending boundary changes.
