The Ministry of Education has requested all school boards to provide information regarding their short term capital priorities up to the 2015-2016 school year. As part of the backup in support of these projects, the Planning & Facilities Department has prepared a document which identifies the Board’s capital needs for the next ten (10) year period, 2011 to 2020.

  View the Updated Capital Priorities 2011 >>  

The objective of the Capital Priorities update is to maintain throughout the Board’s jurisdiction sufficient schools in appropriate locations to serve the current and future educational facility requirements of our student population. The Updated Capital Priorities document also incorporates the Ministry of Education’s Facility Partnership Guideline.

Three (3) elementary schools are proposed as Capital Priorities for submission to the Ministry as requirements for completion by 2015-16, and two more elementary schools beyond the 2016 timeline are being planned, as follows:

• New elementary school (JK-6) in South Nepean for 2013
• New elementary school (JK-6) in Cumberland for 2015
• New elementary school (JK-6) school in Kanata West for 2016
• New elementary school (JK-6) in Riverside South for 2018
• New elementary school (JK-6) in the Fernbank Community in 2020 

In addition, we have made the request for four (4) new elevators at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Mary, St. John the Apostle, and St. Augustine schools in order to begin implementing some major components under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

  Find out more about our Accessibility Committee >>  

The Ottawa Catholic School Board's Planning and Facilities Department has been successful in developing a framework for energy management and conservation that works to reduce expenditures on energy utilities within the Board office and school facilities. The framework involves all school and administrative staff as well as students and authorized visitors, by having everyone take personal responsibility and ownership for the success of this initiative.

During the 2004-2005 school year, the Planning and Facilities Department introduced an Energy Management Plan that focuses on conserving energy within the Board office and across all school facilities.

Each school has an Energy Management Committee that meets regularly to develop plans and programs that work to conserve energy. Special awards are given to schools that meet reduction targets for site-based energy conservation initiatives. Energy management plans encompass stewardship of resources and provide leadership to staff and students, while measuring success. The measures that were put in place since 2004 have had dramatic results – both for our beautiful planet Earth and the Board’s bottom line. Electricity consumption has gone down by 27.3% and natural gas consumption has been reduced by 23.8% – far exceeding the provincial target of 10%. These reductions occurred despite the fact that the Board’s floor space has grown by 4.4% over that time. 

Our efforts to reduce energy consumption has resulted in a total of $12,472,241 in avoided costs - expenses that the Board would have had to pay if the energy management plan was not in effect.

How did we achieve such incredible savings?