Many families at the York Region District School Board are fed up.
They are frustrated with the Board’s inadequate response to serious issues of racism and discrimination.
The stories are well known by now and a clear pattern has emerged. Children have been discriminated against in the classroom – by teachers and by fellow classmates – with no proper follow-up by school administrators or by the board. Families have been ignored in their efforts to raise these issues. Board policies have either not been followed, or poorly communicated. The Board’s own head of equity, Cecil Roach, wrote a scathing letter describing a “culture of fear” and described feeling sidelined in his efforts to do his job.
Ontario’s Education Minister Mitzie Hunter was right to demand an explanation from the Board for this mess. Community members and organizations have been waiting to hear how it would respond.
Not surprisingly, we have been sorely disappointed in a response letter that has now been circulated by the Board. Rather than acknowledging and “owning” the problem and setting clear corrective measures in place, the YRDSB’s response is a weak effort to deny and defend. (more...)
The consequent social, economic, and ethical problems continue to erode our supposed culture of tolerance and equal opportunity. A eugenic undertone poisons the discourse of our leaders. No child's future should be sabotaged by a closet Nazi. It's time to uproot these demons with refined manners and saccharine voices.
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