This article is satire, and is not meant to be taken literally. It parodies and serves as a comment on discriminatory anti-religious policy​.

School board trustee elections are a very overlooked issue that directly affects us students. Low voter participation & awareness enables the election of Trustees such as Donna Blackburn, who is infamous for backing cops in schools and being implicated in a variety of racist incidents. We need to help elect Trustees that care about students, thereby naturally increasing our voice in the process.

What is a board trustee?
School board trustees are locally-elected representatives of the public, and they are the community's advocate for public education. Board trustees are elected for all 4 Ottawa school boards to make policy and budget decisions.

What do board trustees do?
Board trustees:

• ​Identify the needs and priorities of their community
• Ensure these are considered in educational decisions
• Collaborate with the other members of the school board by developing policies that work for all students
• Ensure said policies are implemented effectively
• Act as a liaison between the local community and the school board

Why should students care?
The decisions of the Board of Trustees affects students   directly.
School board trustees vote on issues that directly affect the student experience, such as the School Resource Officers Program, and the implementation of public health measures in schools.
Trustees have an obligation to act in the students' interests, beyond using the position of trustee as a mechanism to bolster their political careers.

When voting for trustees, ask them:

• Have they spent time in actual schools
• Are the schools in your area adequate and in good condition?
• What are their priorities for education?
• What are their party's platform commitments on education?
• What is their position on standardized testing?
• What do they have to say about equity in public education?

In the status quo, the answer your local trustee might provide is likely disappointing.

How can students get involved?
Youth friendly organization like Horizon Ottawa are pushing to elect pro-student trustees who are in favour of anti-SRO and pro-education  reform. Consider getting involved.
The RSU will be enduring a slate of pro-student board trustee candidates. Consider volunteering for a pro-student candidate.
Consider running for trustee! If you are 18 years old by October 2022, you are eligible to run in the Board Trustee elections! We need more youth voices on the Board!

More information on all of these points will be provided at an event on April 16th.

We're calling for the OCDSB to freeze Semester 1 grades. For public and mental health.​

​​Recently, the TDSB, WRDSB and others implemented a mark freeze for all evaluations from December 17th to the end of the semester, such that marks can increase but not decrease. We believe that the OCDSB needs to implement this same measure of “freezing marks” for the sake of its constituents and of public health.

• The TDSB has declared that marks past December 17th cannot harm students' overall grades for Semester 1
• OCDSB students are at risk of developing COVID-19 from Omicron among other factors

​Therefore, we are calling on the OCDSB to implement an identical mark freezing policy.

Why? Absenteeism. This is especially prominent in more COVID-vulnerable communities.
Online learning disproportionately affected those who might have learning disabilities or need IEPs
More COVID-19 cases means that there is a higher likely hood of staff shortages.
More uncertainties to come and further wreck to our learning quality

Read our principal points at 
docs.google.com/document/d/1g3yjKg3uXNG80Kkzp5QTA3DhHUpMf9pDOajBd21Sx44/edit

or sign the petition at
forms.gle/4jdvrda9KXK6WmQe8