By Neil Armstrong
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| Photo contributed Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education, Government of Ontario |
Education Minister Stephen Lecce has given the Peel District School Board
(PDSB) several short timelines to respond to some of his 27 directives
resulting from the final report of the review of the board.
The review, which was done by reviewers Shawn Richard, Suzanne Herbert and Ena Chadha,
was publicly released by Lecce on March 13.
By March 26, the board must submit a letter of commitment “on the part of
each member of the board to participate fully in mediation.”
The direction notes that the board
shall retain an independent mediator or conflict resolution expert, to assist
the board to identify, address and resolve dysfunction between and among the
members of the board and between the members of the board and the director and
associate directors.
All members of the board shall attend
one or more mediation sessions, as determined by the mediator or conflict
resolution expert, and shall make their best efforts to achieve these purposes,
it said.
The PDSB has to confirm by April 17
that it has retained a mediator or conflict resolution expert.
With also a deadline of March 26, the
board has to submit a letter of confirmation to the minster that its members
have stopped participating “on hiring, promotion and appointment panels,
including temporary or acting positions, except for the position of director of
education.”
“The board shall establish a policy restricting
members of the board from
participating on hiring promotion and
appointment panels, for positions, other
than the director of education,” notes
the direction. A board-approved policy must be submitted by June 1, 2020.
Lecce also wants the board to report on
its actions by March 26 regarding an apology to the Black communities in Peel.
“In the light of the harm to the
community, particularly to the Black communities, the board shall give full and
fair consideration to making a responsive and respectful apology.”
The reviewers said they were asked to review
issues of anti-Black racism in the PDSB, noting that, “to their credit, the
Board of Trustees and the senior administration of the PDSB, nearly without
exception, acknowledged the existence of anti-Black racism in the PDSB.”
“Some of the leadership believe the Board’s
current issues with anti-Black racism began with the “McCrimmon” comments,
which were further exacerbated by the report of the Integrity Commissioner. We do
not understand her critical comments referable to Trustee Kathy McDonald, who
did not bring the claim before the Commissioner. They were, in our view,
unnecessary, unhelpful and divisive.
People,
especially elected officials of the Board, should be held to high standards.
The staff, students, and families of McCrimmon Middle School and the Black
communities of the PDSB deserve and are expecting an apology to address the
hurt and harm that this incident has caused,” they said.
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| Photo contributed Shawn Richard, Review of the Peel District School Board reviewer |
As a result of the approaching
deadlines and other aspects of the report, the PDSB will be holding a
supplementary meeting of the board on March 24 where the “minister’s directions
to the board” is one of the items on the agenda.
This will be an electronic meeting. The
PDSB says due to the state of emergency declaration and to help contain the
spread of the novel coronavirus, for everybody’s safety, this meeting will not
be opened to the public. It will be live-streamed.
In a joint statement, the Chair of the
Board Brad MacDonald and Director of Education Peter Joshua said the board will
take immediate action on the minister’s
directives.
The recommendations are under the themes: governance and leadership, equity and human rights, anti-Black racism, and human resources and organizational alignment.
“Many
students told us about feeling undervalued and being mis-tracked by teachers
because of teachers’ perceptions about their ability based on their race. What
we consistently heard during the course of this Review tells us that too many
educators and administrators do not have high expectations for Black students.
Many Black students receive inadequate advice on their academic choices and
pathways, and by no means are encouraged to realize their full potential.
“It is
untenable that, for many years, the Board has been unaware of this terrible
state of affairs. Information gleaned from the Board’s own data discloses a prima facie case of race based, and more particularly anti-Black, discrimination and
it must be remedied,” wrote the reviewers.
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| Photo contributed Ena Chadha, Review of the Peel District School Board reviewer |
The government will consider this report, its recommendations and the resulting ministerial directions as it works to develop a broader province-wide strategy, said the ministry of education.
"The accounts of systemic racism and discrimination documented in the report are deeply troubling and will not be tolerated," said Minister Lecce.
"After decades of inaction, I want to see swift implementation of my directions to drive the necessary and positive change that students deserve. Students and the community have demanded change and I want to assure them that we will monitor board implementation of the directions and hold them to account to deliver transformational change that will put every student on a path to success."
In November 2019, the minister of education announced a review of the PDSB following a request from the former chair and vice-chair of the board of trustees for assistance and intervention.
Among the directions is that the PDSB must develop and implement a comprehensive Annual Equity Accountability Report Card to be included in the director of education’s annual report to the board.
The board must centrally track disaggregated race-based data on suspensions (in-school and out-of-school), expulsions and exclusions, and report publicly through the report card. The first progress report must be submitted by June 1, 2020 and by January 31, 2021 the board must submit a Report Card as part of the director’s annual report.
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| Photo contributed Suzanne Herbert, Review of the Peel District School Board reviewer |
With the announcement of 27 new ministerial directions, the government is positioning the PDSB to immediately strengthen its governance and leadership practices to focus its attention on ensuring that all PDSB students can realize their full potential in classrooms and schools where they are supported, respected, valued and welcomed, said the ministry.
From December 2019 to February 2020, the reviewers heard from over 300
individuals in various locations in Peel and Toronto and considered over 160
written submissions.
“We urge the
PDSB leaders and community to come together to start the hard work of telling
and hearing the personal truths about the machinations and magnitude of racism
within the PDSB. And only after confronting these truths, acknowledging the
myths and accepting responsibility, can the Board undertake the remedial work
of seeking reconciliation and setting metrics to assess progress and success in
community relations.
“It is our
hope that, with this Report as concrete documentation of anti-Black racism in
the Board and affirmation of the voices of Black students, parents, staff and
community members, Black communities can begin to collaborate positively with
the PDSB and push forward efforts to have the recommendations we offer to
uproot systemic racism and inequities are acted upon,” said the reviewers.
The PDSB is responsible for 257 schools in Brampton, Mississauga and
Caledon, and over 155,000 students representing a rich array of racial, ethnic,
linguistic and religious backgrounds and sexual orientations.
83% of PDSB secondary students are racialized with
more than 160 ethnic and cultural backgrounds and 110 languages spoken at home.
Just under 10% of secondary students self-identify as 2SLGBTQ+. The 2016 PDSB employee census data indicates
that approximately 25% of PDSB staff are racialized, which is almost the
opposite of the demographics of the student body.
Links to the Review and Ministerial Directions:
- Review of the Peel District School Board - Final Report
- Ministerial Directions to the Peel District School Board
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