An Open Letter to our School Board re. transportation.

October 6, 2011

Dr. Jennifer Adams, CEO, OCDSB

Dear Ms. Adams.

My two youngest children attend Devonshire School and have since Kindergarten.  I can truthfully say that Devonshire has always provided outstanding teachers, involved Principals and excellent school grounds and facilities.  I am very pleased to report that both of my children speak excellent French thanks to the English French Immersion program offered from SK-onward and they have been privileged to attend many extra-curricular cultural and athletic programs throughout the school year thanks to a devoted school council.

If there was one issue that has remained a constant over the past seven years that we have attended Devonshire, it is the issue of transportation, both to and from school. 

The total attendance of Devonshire and Connaught Schools is just under 600 students between the ages of five and twelve years old.  The Ottawa Carleton District School Board policy no. 068 TRA has allotted a total of only two buses to be shared between both schools.  As each bus can only hold a maximum of 72 students, you can imagine there would be a substantial shortage.  This fall, for instance, over 50 families applied for an empty seat on one of the two buses; only twelve were awarded.  Of that twelve, a pitiful three of those seats were for Devonshire students.

The OCDSB transportation policy indicates that for the ages of six and older, the maximum distance acceptable to walk to and from school be less than 1.6 kilometres from school.  To put that into perspective, Devonshire School is located on Breezehill, almost equidistant between Gladstone and Somerset Street.  We live on Cambridge Street North, also equidistant between Gladstone and Somerset.  The route to and from our house and the school, much like the other fifty families without transportation, consists of heavy road-construction and street closures, crossing major intersections such as Preston and Bell Street and unfortunately still inherent to our area, street crimes and gangs.   Crime statistics, as reported by the 2009-2010 Crime Trends for Somerset ward 14 indicate that during the 2009-10 year there was a reported 3 homicides, 2 attempted murders, 306 assaults including sexual assaults, 6 abductions, 170 criminal code traffic violations and 105 drug offenses.  

To add to the issue, there is little to no childcare in this area to speak of.  A small after-school program is offered at Devonshire and Connaught Schools but the waiting list is long; long enough in fact that my daughter has been on it since before she was born!  Hintonburg Community Centre had filled up before the 10-11 school year had even let out and our own Plant Bath Community centre does not offer any after-school programming for its residents.

This fall, my daughter started first grade this year; no doubt an exciting time in the life of a six-year old.  In order to accommodate my School board policies, I have had to take a reduced work week, thus cutting my annual income by over 20%. 

I, like most parents of Devonshire and Connaught schools enjoy living in the downtown core; the access to all of the best that this City has to offer is practically right at our doorsteps and for the most part, that is why we live here.  Sadly, raising and educating our children here however, is becoming more and more expensive, inconvenient and problematic.

I am not ignorant to the financial woes of the OCDSB; having worked in non-profit and the Public Sector for ten years I am well versed in cost-cutting, however, and I say this without equivocation, not one single cent should ever be spared in the area of health and safety of our children.  Making a six year-old child walk the streets of the downtown core for a total of nearly 4 kilometres each day so that she can gain an education is akin to third-world infrastructure and should not, nor will not, be tolerated by any parent, much less over one hundred parents in Canada’s Capitol City.

 I have fulfilled my obligations as a parent; I have bought the requisite school supplies, the lunches, the wrapper and nut-free snacks, the non-laces, non-marking indoor and outdoor shoes, I have ordered and paid for the milks and the pizzas and even donated extra snow-suits to families in need.  For the most part, my child is well rested, has eaten a peanut-free breakfast and knows the rules of the playground.  Check, check and check.  Now, the responsibility is turned over to the School Board.  The OCDSB must fix this situation immediately.  Whether it means adding more buses or creating a street-safe program that provides escorts and cross-walks, it is the responsibility of the OCDSB to do as their credo states, “meet the individual needs of the students, parents and the community at large”[1]. 

I am more than happy to further discuss this situation, should you have any additional comments or questions.  In the meantime, I will continue to drive my daughter to and from school, morning and afternoon until you have resolved this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Moore

213 Cambridge st N

613-286-1529

CC.

The Joint Steering Committee of the OSTA

Deborah Kuffer, School Principal, Devonshire School

Jennifer McKenzie, Public School Trustee

Diane Holmes, Ottawa City Councillor

Paul Dewar, MP, Ottawa Centre

Gerry Nott, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Ottawa Citizen

CBC Ottawa Morning News

Ottawa Police Department, Somerset Ward

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[1] As quoted on the OCDSB website under “about us”.  www.ocdsb.ca/ab-ocdsb/pages/default.aspx

Another (?!) Sex Post - this one's diffrent though, I swear...

During a scheduled break at work today, as per usual, I am perusing the world news on theGlobeandMail.com and don’t I happen to come upon an article about how our beloved Austrian movie star/Governor/Terminator has a ten-year old love child with one of his household staff. Now, I know its California, and I know he’s pretty darn irresistible, but seriously people, what the eff is going on in the world of sex?


It was only about 18 months ago that we found out the truth about Tiger Woods…then a few months later, Jesse James. For what seems like an eternity we have been hearing about the Pamelas and the Parises having ‘sex tapes’ and somehow these innocent loving embraces being ‘leaked’ to the internet for the whole world to see. Does no one have ANY shame anymore? Has the moral thread of our society become nothing more than a dusty piece of pocket lint?

I’m not professing to be a prude or anything; occasionally, after a few spritzers I may be coerced into some closed-mouth kissing with the lights on, but I really think that the entire pre-teen and adult world has gone completely bananas for the intercourse. I mean, it doesn’t event seem to phase people like Tiger and Jesse that the entire free world (and I’ll bet most of the non-free world) to know that they are sex-addicts. SEX ADDICTS!!!! SEX. ADDICTS. I could never even work up the nerve to walk into the adult section of the video-store and these people’s mothers, fathers and children are all aware that they can’t get enough of the biddness?!

In all seriousness, its not the whacked-out* behaviour of the egomaniacs that I cant get along with; I suppose if you’ve won every PGA Championship in the world for like the past ten years, then there is only one more logical thing to do…that’s none of my business. The part that is starting to get under my skin is that this attitude towards sex has become so lax that sexual behaviour, sexual suggestion and sexual vocabulary is now accepted as ‘everyday’. Primetime television shows nonchalantly throw around sexual innuendo as though there was a sex-sponsor paying them for how many times they can fit the word into a 22-minute segment.

I don’t have any cold-hard* studies on this stuff, but I can tell you this; you can buy thong underwear for a seven year old girl, as well as high-heeled shoes. And I don’t mean those plastic, costume shoes like we used to get handed down from our older cousins; I am talking about pumps, people!! In an equally if not worse move, retailer American Eagle recently designed a padded bikini for children. Why a child is wearing a bikini is beyond me. Why grown-up bathing suits are padded is also a mystery. Why American Eagle is employing pedophiles in their design department should, nay, MUST be a matter of public interest.

I am deeply concerned that as a race, we are becoming completely desensitised to what is acceptable behaviour and that before long, there will be nothing ‘private’ to our lives at all. I shudder to think what the next step is in sex-shock value, (I am still very alarmed and puzzled by a few things I saw in Burn After Reading) and moreover I am frightened to think of what age my daughter will be when she is concerned about her pantyline or how many pounds she can shave off by wearing her Dora dress with a pair of two-inch heels.

*no pun intended

France Post

Just when you think you have us figured out, we pull the rug out from under you again! Yep, that’s right…all those invites to fancy summer BBQ’s, 5 à 7’s on the terrace, evenings on your yacht…consider us OUT. We will be wine mainlining tasting in the Loire Valley. Suck it babies!!!


Tee-Hee…don’t worry, I am not going to be that gloaty about it, but man we are excited. Normally our summers consist of long, glorious sun-filled weekends at our family cottage about an hour East of here. Yes, there is BBQing, yes there is 5 a 7-ing (although perhaps it is somewhat elongated on both ends) and yes, there is some boating, albeit not yachting, but this time it will all be in FRENCH! And you can’t argue that everything isn’t better in French; poodles, kissing, toast, fries, bread, quarters…C’est toujours magnifique!

The way this came to be is that we are members of an online house-exchange program called Global Home Exchange that basically posts your home and a few pics of the interior. People can contact you if they think they might want to come to your city or town. While you may not think people want to flock to this conservative little corner of the globe, Ottawa is in fact a bit of a hotbed for the house exchanges because of the Library and Archives and the medical facilities such as the Heart Institute, so there are always a number of professionals looking to spend some time here. (What it is that professionals get up to in this stifling heat and humidity, we do not know). We, on the other hand, will go almost anywhere to escape such professionals and the aforementioned heat, including, as our ad indicates, Europe and the UK at almost any time of the year for almost any length of time.

So there it is! I have great, if not HUGE intentions of documenting every blessed moment of the trip for your reading enjoyment; from the see-through X-ray machine at the airport to the cheese and bread induced constipation, not a single detail will be spared! Attachez vos ceintures, mes ami(e)s!

The "Completely Irrelevant to Whatever You're Doing Right Now" Post.

Things I could easily go the rest of my life without hearing about every, ever, ever again:


1. Anything with the last name Kardashian.
2. People in or from or around Jersey Shore.
3. Farmville, jewelled blitzes (or something) and your horoscope.
4. Any of the ‘Idols’.
5. The word ‘anal’; mainly used in the context of a person being uptight or strict, but really, I would prefer not to hear it at all. It sounds yucky and conjures up unpleasant images.
6. Olives.
7. Your unpleasant time spent at Airport Security; Dudes, it’s their job. They’re trying to stop planes from blowing up and flying into buildings. Ten bucks says you’re not so hot at your job either.
8. What you dreamed about last night.
9.‘Yeppers’ and ‘Meh’ . Not necessarily in that order.
10. Why it is you don’t run/swim/bike/work out/practise yoga etc… It continues to baffle me as to why people feel the need to explain their laziness to me. Yes I’m judging you, but really, move on.

On a less crabby cow note, here are some things that I can’t get enough of:

1. PK Subban.
2. Jerry Seinfeld.
3. Hemp seeds.
4. My sweatpants; this may be surprising but I got my very first pair EVER in 2010. It was love at first wear.
5. My iPhone. Lame, but true. It’s like, just when I think I’m done praising this little guy, a new app comes along that I don’t know how I have lived without all this time!! Just last night I found the Epicurious app and once again, HOW did I go all this time without it?!
6. Tapas. MMMMM, MMM! I loves me some tapas.
7. Travelling. Anywhere, anytime.
8. Café Lattes. I do have a tendency to go a little Cramer on them, but when kept in check, I remain fairly calm.
9. Adele, Arcade Fire and Florence & the Machine. In that order.
10. Hot Yoga.

The School Post

The following text contains seriously strong views on parenting which some readers may find offensive. Reader discretion is advised.


Having held parental status for almost sixteen years now, (insert sound of astonishment and awe at how fresh and youthful I look) I have had my share of opportunities to observe some rather remarkable changes in how we are treating our ‘Leaders of Tomorrow’ and quite frankly, I have some concerns.

Unless you are living in Communist China, (in which case I am pretty sure you won’t have access to this blog anyways and if you could get access to the WWW, I would understand fully if my Blog weren’t the first thing you Googled and bookmarked) you may have noticed that is was back to school time a few weeks ago.

Here is a sampling of some of the correspondence over the years between myself and the kids’ teachers:

“Simon needs large Zip lock bags for his letters from the Teacher. The ones he has are traditional seal. Please send secure-lock bags instead”

Dear Simon’s Teacher: Were you planning to send home killer bees? Molten lava? What bloody difference will it make what kind of Ziplock bag he has? Update from the Kathryn files; I never see any of those letters until at least four days past the due date anyways so save yourself the trouble, save me the $4.45 and in case you missed that Oprah episode, save the Albatross.

“Simon’s gym shoes have laces. Waiting for Simon to lace up his shoes is holding up the class. Please send velcro shoes”

Does Simon’s writing and reading also hold up the class? Here’s a thought, teach Simon to lace up his shoes. Teach all of those corner-cutters in the class to lace their shoes. Am I the only person who has nightmares about our soldiers being killed on the battlefields because they couldn’t lace up their boots before the enemy advanced? Or the next Madame Curie tripping over her laces and thus spilling the cure for cancer down the drain all because up until that day in the lab she always wore velcro?

“Elizabeth is very independent and doesn’t always want to play with the other children”

Um, yes. Have you seen the other children? At least three of them have peed their pants, they all have crusted-over nostrils (most sad are the five year-old girls in HIGH HEELS) and not one of them even knows who Barack Obama is, much less can point out his home-state on a map. Try not to think of her an independent. Try to think of the other children as morons. It’s what I do.

Grade one math test:

Question: 3 + 4 =

Answer: Г (backwards 7)

Teacher marks it as incorrect.

Grrrr.

“Your child’s grade four teacher has a banana allergy. Please refrain from sending bananas or banana-based products in your child’s lunch”

Dear Teacher: Keep your chalky fingers off my kids’ lunch and there shouldn’t be any problems. You’re a grown-up, he’s nine and quite frankly after eliminating peanuts, nuts, anything in a wrapper and glass bottles I am fresh out of ideas.

“Simon needs duotangs in the following colors: sky-blue, navy blue, light blue, cyan, black, grey, orange, yellow, canary, goldenrod, white, beige, red, purple, violet, green, hunter green and chartreuse”.

Simon has a mother and father who have far better things to do than hunt high and low looking for leprechaun duotangs. Please find enclosed 18 white duotangs and a sharpie.

Many of my friends and family are educators. I want to finish this blog by emphasising that I have absolutely no ill-feelings for teachers whatsoever. I whole-heartily admire the work they do and am the first person to stand up and admit I could never possess the patience and will it must take to shape the young minds of tomorrow. The instances sighted above are merely excerpts from our experiences with an over-stretched school board trying to simplify their life while overly complicating the parents’ and, I believe, depriving the children of some of their learning experiences.

The Summer in a Nutshell Post

Holy Mother it has been a long time since I’ve been here…what the heck is going on? Oh, right… a nervous breakdown, three kids, the last of which started school last week, a new job, a new house, two weddings and another on the way, ten pounds and another bloody stinking ankle sprain. Where to begin…


Well, yes, I went off to the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. I never wrote about it, blogged about it or even spoke about it much to almost anyone so don’t feel as though you’re in the dark. For seven weeks I lived in the Olympic Village, ate lunch with Syd the Kid, consumed a LOT of McCafé and missed the entire last season of Lost. Enuf said.


The kids are great; Nicholas has his first real job, (by real, I mean not working for his dad) at Kunstadt Sports. He loves it and although I have not been in to spy on him, is I am sure a natural. He has always been very at ease around people and is a master at shooting the daily crap, so no doubt will be Manager by Christmas. Simon played soccer all summer, worked for his dad and surprisingly avoided injury, which for him is a major accomplishment. Elizabeth was lured by the siren song of the Eastern Townships pony and is now in regular lessons. Oddly, she seems to have no trouble communicating to the horse that she is in charge.

Started a new job in August; I am the Facilities and Operations Technologist for the Canadian Museum of Civilisation as well as the Canadian War Museum. Ahh…the great Canadian dream to move to Ottawa, ice-skate to your government job and live no more than six feet from a Tim Hortons…Yup, I have sold out. What can I say…the pension rocks, the benefits are great and from my office I have the single best view in the City. Suck on that Syd. Seriously though, the job is going well enough…The people are nice, all the work is in French and most importantly people seem to dress well; It’s amazing how just being ‘on the other side’ makes such a difference.


Yes, another house. Pics and updates on that one to follow. It’s a lot of work, but stunning underneath it all. Kinda like me


As mentioned, we have attended two weddings this summer; they were both equally beautiful and touching and as such deserve their own post, along with one for the final wedding of 2010 in October. Stay tuned.

Ten pounds and another bloody ankle sprain. Blerg. Piece of advice from me to you; don’t wear your work heels for the riding part of your commute. There is a reason that you often see people wearing runners or flats on their bikes. That reason is ankle sprains. As such, running has taken a major backseat. In the front seat? Cheese.

The Shopping Post

Here's a list of things I bought lately and how I feel about them;


1. Lululemon's Run Zoom Crops. Yes, they look great (possibly not as great on me as little Miss Legs in the pic there) but they are not, in any way intended for anyone who, a) has an ass or b) intends to take thier ass with them on a run. Why? because they shimmy down and you spend the better part of the run hiking up your pants and let's face it, we don’t need anymore excuses not to run.

2. These fantastic 'choose your length' leggings from Aritzia. LOVE these. They come in a super-long length for those bitches with really long legs but they have three little tiny stitch lines at below the knee, knee, and above the knee length so you can cut them to whatever length suits you the best. It's genius!!!!!! They don't fray or stretch out of shape. On a recent trip where I bounced through five airports in three days I wore the same pair over and over again and they held their own. Approx $20.

3. Bras from Victoria's Secret. What can I say, get your ladies in one today. They're sexy, comfortable and supportive. They're like a wonderful gay friend, but for your tits. Although the website is super fraught with ridiculously fake breasted women in poses that no women has ever been in, it is easy as pie to manoeuvre; details about coverage, cup size, padding levels are all at your fingertips. I have a bunch of different styles but have not ventured to the strapless variety. Will do so this summer though; stay tuned.

4. Mr.Clean Magic Eraser. Bought a pack of two last week and tested them out on fingerprint stained doorways and coloured-on walls. While the sheer joy of cleaning was definitely a major highlight, I'm not entirely certain this qualifies as 'magical' in any sense. I mean, it cleans things, but not any better than good old-fashioned soap and water. I suppose there is something to be said for the soap always being in the eraser and not having to reapply, but really, no big whoop.

5. 'Northern Songs - Canada's Best and Brightest' CD. I actually bought this at Starbucks in Vancouver, and apparently the coffee icon has the exclusive rights to its' sales, so you may have a hard time finding it, but if you are so lucky as to track down a copy, it will be well worth the hunt. It's a great Sunday afternoon collection of Canadian singers and songwriters; the Band, Feist, Rufus Wainright, Cowboy Junkies and of course Sarah Mc to name a few.

Further to these items, I am happy to fully endorse AirCanada's Cheese and Crackers plate from the on-board cafe, Glee (the television program, not the emotion), any Bosch appliances, C2 paint, the iPhone and a venti-triple-non-fat-skinny-latte, unless I'm in the UK in which case, stick to the Illy.