ottawa carleton district school board

A special meeting of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) held Tuesday night to debate the return of mask mandates in schools turned into quite a tense situation.

The meeting was interrupted several times by protestors, police were called, and it all resulted in no decision being made as to whether mask mandates will make a return for Ottawa-area students.

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A group of Ottawa high school students are petitioning to remove a principal for reports of racism, and some organized a walkout on Wednesday, shouting "school is not a prison."

On June 22, students at Hillcrest High School walked out of class, comparing their school to jail. The protest followed several allegations made against the school and its principal, who was hired in February, about harm toward BIPOC students.

Students launched their second petition during the fourth week of June after the students said a first petition was flagged and reported. The newest petition gathered nearly 70 signatures by the end of the month, with the first pulling in over 200 signatures in one week.

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A financial advisor is running for school board trustee with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board and his social media posts are igniting anger around gender and washrooms, according to current school board trustee, Lyra Evans.

Shannon Boschy says he filed his trustee application in the Rideau-Vanier and Rideau-Rockcliffe area, zone 6, on June 21. By that afternoon, Evans said that Shannon Boschy's registration against her was "whipping up hate against trans kids in washrooms." Evans noted that the news came in time for Pride Month.

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An Ottawa school board unveiled the latest version of its dress code this week, saying "all students have the right to express themselves in school through their choice of clothing, hairstyles, jewelry, and accessories.”

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) shared the update on June 6 as part of its Safe Schools Policies. The new dress code will allow students to wear spaghetti straps, halter tops, midriff-baring shirts, ripped jeans, bandanas, and hats, along with other specified items of clothing.

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The derecho storm that tore through Ottawa on May 21 has closed several schools and caused power outages that could last up to four days, according to Hydro Ottawa.

"This event is significantly worse than both the ice storm of 1998 and the tornadoes of 2018," the electricity provider noted in a news release. The company says the storm knocked out at least 187 hydro poles.

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