Ottawa school board apologizes for 12:30 a.m. robocall
OCDSB had promised to notify parents as soon as it knew if schools would open
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) says it's sorry for the disruption it caused when it called every parent in its system at 12:30 a.m. to let them know its schools were closing Wednesday for a one-day high school teacher strike.
Ottawa's English public board, which looks after about 72,000 students, had said in the days before a major education worker strike it would notify parents by email, phone, social media and online as soon as it knew what was happening.
That news came through around midnight.
At about 12:30 a.m., the OCDSB's automated call went out.
"All OCDSB elementary and secondary schools will be closed to students and all school bus transportation will be cancelled Wed., Dec. 4, 2019," the message begins, going on to give information about specific programs and extracurriculars.
Many who got the message said they didn't appreciate the timing.
👎 for the late night call. We figure this stuff out on snow days when school cancellations happen much later and with infinitely less warning. Calling after midnight for a non emergency is poor form.
—@datesandquincesI support the teachers but non-emerg robo calls in middle of night were unnecessary you & board know it! We were notified of strike in advance & board notified everyone thru multiple other means at 12:30am. If you needed to know at 12:30am you would have found out w/o a robocall!
—@lsgr1999Others said they appreciated the update.
We were waiting for any news so appreciate the night call...Thank you OCDSB
—@dinafawazrabaaLater this morning, the OCDSB apologized for the disruption, saying it got some backlash.
"We were aware how important this message was for many families, and wanted to maintain our commitment to notify the community as quickly as possible after OSSTF made its decision known," a spokesperson said in an email.
"This was an unusual circumstance and we will take the feedback into consideration for future planning."
All public schools in Ottawa and all French schools in eastern Ontario are closed because of the one-day strike by Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) members.