Raj Dhir
Executive Director and Chief Legal Officer
Ontario Human Rights Commission
July 24, 2020
Dear Mr. Dhir,
I wrote to you on June 9, 2020 and again on June 21, 2020 to express concerns about trustees refusing to remove themselves from hiring panels for all employees, except for directors of education, in school boards across the province. This is concerning because it is leading to systemic discrimination, and the provincial government is refusing to deal with it.
Since you wrote to Education Minister Lecce on June 5, 2020 asking whether there were any plans to expand the implementation of the Directions to the Peel District School Board (PDSB) beyond Peel Region (and since the second Direction to the PDSB was for trustees to immediately remove themselves from hiring panels for all positions, except for director of education, and to create a policy restricting trustees from sitting on hiring panels for all positions, except for director of education), I am writing again.
Since my last letter to you, the provincial government has passed Bill 197, the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020. Parts of the government’s equity “plans” are buried within this Act. Other parts of the government’s equity “plans” were announced to the Toronto Star. None of the changes to the Act or announced in the media address the trustee situation, some of the changes won’t address systemic discrimination properly, and some of the changes won’t address systemic discrimination at all. I also believe parts of the government’s response are discriminatory.
Here is how I have come to that conclusion.
First, the Ontario Educational Communications Authority Act is changing to allow the establishment, administration and coordination of distance education programs. Sections 185 and 188 of the Education Act are being amended to allow prescribed people (distance education providers) to provide written notice to a school board that a student intends to attend a prescribed school (a distance education program) and to collect personal information from school boards about their students (distance education students.) Poor students, who are often racialized, won't have access to these distance education programs. Access and stratification will be more polarized that it already is. This will make systemic discrimination worse.
Second, the Education Act is being changed to remove the requirement that directors of education must be supervisory officers who are qualified as teachers to allow Ontario’s school communities “to choose from a wider pool of candidates with a broader skill set who are representative of Ontario’s diverse population.”
This does nothing to allow school board’s to choose from a wider pool of candidates with a broader skill set who are representative of Ontario’s diverse population. Directors Donna Quan, J. Philip Parappally, and Peter Joshua were already representative of Ontario’s diverse population, and the provincial government blamed them – and fired them! – for the governance and equity problems in the Toronto District School Board, the York Region District School Board, and the Peel District School Board.
At the same time, the government is refusing to remove racist trustees from their role as school board trustee. This is making, and will continue to make, systemic discrimination worse.
Furthermore, the government’s hiring announcement does not address positions other than directors of education. Currently, the Toronto District School Board has 2 associate directors who are black, 7 superintendents who are Black, 2 South Asian superintendents, and 2 Asian superintendents. The rest of the superintendents – 23 others – are white. Ministry Lecce’s announcement does nothing to address hiring at this level. Nor does it do anything to address hiring at the principal, vice-principal or teacher level where employees are also predominantly white.
Even if principals want to hire teachers who will better reflect the diverse population of students at their school, they can’t because Regulation 274 says principals must hire the most senior applicant. The provincial government has done nothing to address this aspect of the problem. This will allow systemic discrimination in hiring and promotions to continue.
Furthermore, no changes to the Education Act were even necessary for school boards to hire non-teachers as directors of education. The Education Act states in Section 8 (1) (14) that “(t)he Minister of Education may accept equivalent qualification in lieu of any requirement prescribed for a...director of education...experience, scholarship or professional training as the Minister considers equivalent.”
Therefore, a school board could already seek Ministerial approval, under the previous regulations, if the board could make a strong case for an exception to the rule, and non-qualified and racialized directors were already hired before the Education Act changed. Bruce Rodrigues, the Supervisor of the Peel District School Board, named Jaspal Gill as temporary Interim Director of Education – Gill isn’t a qualified teacher. And the Toronto District School Board named Carlene Jackson as Interim Director of Education – Jackson isn’t a qualified teacher, either. The Education Act did not need to change for this hiring to occur.
Moreover, Minister Lecce stated that education has become increasingly complex. So why is Minister Lecce hiring less qualified directors? We need more qualified directors, not less.
Furthermore, any new racialized directors of education that school boards hire will continue to report to the same old dysfunctional trustees, and nothing will change. Systemic discrimination will continue. Dr. Avis Glaze, a global education expert who recommended the elimination of school board trustees in Nova Scotia, wrote in Raise the Bar: A Coherent and Responsive Education Administrative System for Nova Scotia (January 2018) that over the past two decades, school boards in Canada have undergone several dramatic changes. First, provincial governments have significantly decreased the number of school districts, and these amalgamations have been accompanied by a large reduction in the number of school board members.
The result is that board members are now responsible for a much larger geographic area, with many more schools, students, and parents. This makes it more difficult for trustees to stay in touch with local community issues.
There has also been a general decline in school board autonomy as educational policy and decision-making have become more centralized by provincial governments.
Dr. Glaze says these changes have put school boards in a difficult position. School boards are now expected to be “interest representatives” for their communities, trustees for all children educated by the school district, and implementers of the directives of provincial governments at the same time. These competing objectives are in conflict, which leads to role confusion. This is a major reason why school boards appear dysfunctional.
Dr. Glaze says school board members can also easily become representatives of special interest or other mobilized groups within their communities, instead of working towards the common good of everyone in the district, and without the benefit of political parties to bind members together, research indicates that elected school boards can become “undisciplined, fractious entities that fail to coalesce around common goals.” This phenomenon – school board members representing narrow interests without a sense of common purpose – is another source of school board failure.
Dr. Glaze also pointed out that school boards could easily become “jurisdictional silos.” School boards were initially created because educational issues could no longer be effectively managed alongside other municipal issues. But now school boards can sometimes operate “walled off” from the rest of local political and civic leadership. This can make it difficult to coordinate efforts to tackle complex social problems related to things like health, poverty, crime, and systemic discrimination.
Therefore, Premier Ford and Minister Lecce are creating an education system where racialized directors of education are getting blamed – and fired – for dysfunction and governance issues that were created when the provincial government significantly decreased the number of school districts, reduced the number of school board members, made the geographic areas of school boards much larger, and centralized education policy and decision-making. The Ontario government is blaming racialized directors of education for a problem it created itself. Systemic discrimination will continue, and I believe this is actually a discriminatory response.
Third, the Ontario government has promised to work with the Ontario College of Teachers to toughen the rules to ensure educators who make racist comments or engage in discriminatory actions are held accountable.
This change is necessary, but doesn’t address racist trustees.
On June 29 2020, the Ottawa Carlton District School Board considered an external investigator's report regarding an incident that occurred last March between a board member (Trustee Donna Blackburn) and a student (Styles Lepage), and determined that a breach of the board member code of conduct had occurred. (Trustee Blackburn had admonished Lepage, 17, for playing basketball at a park that had been closed due to Covid-19. She told young Mr. Styles – who is Black – that people who don’t follow the rules go to jail.)
The trustees in the Ottawa Carlton District School Board imposed sanctions in accordance with what they were permitted under the Education Act. (They censured Trustee Blackburn, barred her from attending a meeting and from sitting on committees for six months. These are the only sanctions that are allowed in the Education Act.)
Minister Lecce announced in the Legislature on July 8, 2020, “I…am disturbed by the comments of the trustee in question…I share deep concern related to the comments and the impact those comments have on this young man’s life…As stated by member’s of her community, it was shameful, it was racist, it was abuse of her privilege. It is clear that this trustee must do the right thing and step down.”
Trustee Blackburn is refusing to resign. Now what? Trustee Blackburn will continue in her role as school board trustee, and systemic discrimination will continue.
Legal counsel at the Ombudsman’s Office even told senior officials at the Ministry of Education in December 2018 that the Education Act needed to change so that problematic trustees are dealt with in a consistent and fair manner across the province. The government did not change the Education Act to address trustee conduct. The government changed the Education Act to allow the hiring of non-teachers for director of education positions instead, which doesn’t even need to happen to help eliminate systemic discrimination, and which won’t help eliminate systemic discrimination. The government is ignoring the Ombudsman’s recommendation, which will allow systemic discrimination to continue.
Furthermore, Chris Ellis, a trustee with the Ottawa-Carlton District School Board (OCDSB) tried to make a statement during the OCDSB’s Code of Conduct meeting regarding Trustee Blackburn, but he was not allowed.
Trustee Ellis has since posted his statement publicly, and he stated that the Trustee Code of Conduct in the OCDSB requires a decision by 2/3 of the board to determine racism, and any trustee refusing to be silent and wanting to call out a racist act is precluded from voting, which benefits the perpetrator of the act.
“That this Code of Conduct process was used to stop public delegations to the board is another example of systemic racism embedded in the Code of Conduct,” Trustee Ellis wrote. “I am guilty of perpetuating this systemic racism as I initially kept quiet and went along with the misguided assumption that this process could hold a trustee to account. It cannot. I apologize to Styles Lepage and the black community for not calling out the racist incident immediately.” (I’ve attached a copy of Trustee Ellis’ statement with his permission.)
In response to the issues in the Peel District School Board, Minister Lecce put trustees under supervision, but only after they asked to be put under supervision. (See “Trustees approve motion requesting appointment of Supervisor by the Minister of Education” at https://www.peelschools.org/trustees/boardhighlights/Pages/Article.aspx?art-id=2876).
Minister Lecce will likely say (if asked) that he couldn’t do anything sooner, because the regulations don’t allow for anything to be done sooner. This means those regulations also need to change. They, too, are continuing to contribute to systemic discrimination.
Furthermore, trustee supervision will only last for a short period of time. When power is returned to the trustees, it will be returned to the same trustees, and if there are continued governance issues or equity concerns – and there will be because the governance structure itself is responsible for the dysfunction – the new racialized director – Colleen Russell-Rawlins – will be blamed for the dysfunction and fired.
Additionally, the trustees are responsible for Ms. Russell-Rawlins’ performance appraisal and whether or not her employment contract gets renewed. So Ms. Russell-Rawlins will be obligated to do as the trustees say. Round and round the discrimination merry-go-round we will go.
Kristin Rushowy reported that “14 of the province’s 72 directors have left or are leaving at some point this year — an unprecedented number that represents about 20 per cent of all public boards.” (“Directors of education don’t need to be teachers, province proposes,” Toronto Star, July 8, 2020.)
Andrew Campbell, a teacher, writer and speaker curated a spreadsheet on Twitter (July 9, 2020) that shows more than one third of Ontario’s directors of education have recently retired or will be retiring in the months ahead.
We are now beginning to see a mass exodus of directors of education across the province. Additionally, two school board Chairs – Corey McBain (York Region) and Robin Pilkey (Toronto) – are stepping down.
It’s no wonder.
Look at the power structure and the government’s ineffective handling of the governance situation, and you’ll see why.
Directors of education report to trustees, who are dysfunctional. This dysfunction was created when the provincial government significantly decreased the number of school districts, reduced the number of school board members, made the geographic areas of school boards much larger, and centralized education policy and decision-making.
Directors can’t say anything about the power structure or trustees will give them poor performance appraisals and won’t renew their employment contracts. Directors are blamed and fired by the provincial government for any dysfunction that occurs – especially if they are racialized. The government is allowing the hiring of less qualified racialized directors. So there will be more dysfunction, not less. The power structure needs to change, not the qualifications of school board directors.
Superintendents, principals, vice-principals and teachers cannot speak out about the problem, either. They are told they have a duty of loyalty to the school board, which is a cornerstone of any employment relationship, especially those who work in public service. Superintendents, principals, vice-principals and teachers are punished, demoted – even fired – if they speak out.
School boards tell principals and vice-principals who speak out that they are attempting to subvert Board objectives and operational plans, and not modeling the Practices and Competencies as articulated by the Ontario Ministry of Education in its document, Leadership Framework for Principals and Vice-Principals, Leader Practices and Competencies. Lawyers, human resource departments, and professional associations like the Ontario Principals’ Council support this position.
The Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), another professional association, tells the public that the OCT supports the provincial government’s initiatives to eradicate racism and discrimination in the province’s education system, even though their leadership team is all white. They also tell teachers that teachers do not have freedom of expression if the content reflects poorly on their school, their school board, or the teaching profession. The OCT recently made a statement about this (July 21, 2020) where you can see both statements – side by side – on the following email communication:
Unions tell teachers to say nothing, or teachers will be subjected to retribution and harassment by their employer. This is reflected in an opinion piece written by a retired teacher, Ken Durkacz, who wrote, “Teachers are…warned by their boards and by their federations not to take issues to the media, even for a civilized debate. It is seen as criticism, and will be met with threats, bullying and harassment from board human resources.” (See “Teacher input is what’s missing from school-board’s top down approach,” the Hamilton Spectator, November 15, 2018.) These comments also apply to making comments on social media or to anyone in general.
This aspect of the problem was confirmed in the Peel District School Board (PDSB) review when the reviewers wrote, “To be an effective part of the organization, human resources management requires strong ethical leadership, and the ability to coordinate and align organizations functions, roles and accountabilities…For some of its functions, human resources must play a watchdog role with respect to identifying and addressing inappropriate practices and changing norms. This last role should be embraced by the entire system, but often is not.”
The reviewers also called on teachers “to stand up for their students and their colleagues, and to relentlessly challenge anti-Black racism and other human rights violations,” but teachers can’t because of the above reasons. Teachers, principals, vice-principals, superintendents, even directors, are caught between a rock and a hard place.
Most people don’t realize that school board trustees approve promotions, demotions and firings. Page 30 of Educating Together, A Handbook for Trustees, School Boards, and Communities, Ontario Public School Boards’Association (OPSBA), 2003 states that a “school board’s mandate to operate the school system includes hiring and evaluating the performance of the director of education. It also involves approving the hiring, transfer, promotion, and termination of other staff...In all these situations, the school board is the employer.”
Most people also don’t understand that trustees act as their own gatekeepers. There is no oversight – none whatsoever – except for the provincial government, and Premier Ford and Minister Lecce are not acting as proper gatekeepers.
The Ontario Public School Boards’ Association (OPSBA) represents all English public district school boards and public school authorities across Ontario, and serves more than 1.3 million public elementary and secondary students, and is silent on the racist trustee issue. OPSBA is seen as the credible voice of public education in Ontario and is routinely called on by the provincial government for input and advice on legislation and the impact of government policy directions. OPSBA is supposed to advocate on behalf of the best interests and needs of the public school system in Ontario.
Is it not in the best interests and needs of Ontario’s students to eliminate racist trustees?
Instead of helping to stamp out systemic discrimination in education, OPSBA is protecting it own interests, which is discriminatory, and Premier Ford’s government is protecting racist school board trustees, which is also discriminatory.
Fourth, the Ontario government has promised to end streaming in Grade 9. This is a welcome change, but it requires a great deal of support and accountability measures, which haven’t been provided. The former director of education for the Toronto District School Board, Dr. John Malloy, tweeted (July 7, 2020), “‘De-streaming’ is a great first step, however, this change is necessary & complex, & will need much support & accountability so that students are successful.”
Annie Kidder, of People for Education, said, “There is quite a lot of agreement that streaming is problematic. I think at the same time, people are saying, ‘Just a minute, how is this going to be supported? How is this going to be implemented, especially in the middle of COVID?’ Those questions are really important questions.” (“Yes to destreaming grade 9, say experts, but smaller classes and more supports are needed,” Kristin Rushowy, Toronto Star, July 7, 2020.)
Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association said, “…once again, we see the Ford government charging ahead with a policy announcement before any genuine consultation or planning has been carried out. Research and experience suggests that to have the intended effect, destreaming should be accompanied by reduced class sizes, strict guidelines around class composition.” (“Yes to destreaming grade 9, say experts, but smaller classes and more supports are needed,” Kristin Rushowy, Toronto Star, July 7, 2020.)
Dr. Ann Lopez, who teaches educational leadership and policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, said she worries because this provincial government “does not have a track record of engaging in anti-racist education, anti-oppressive work,” nor has it put the resources in schools to do so. (“Yes to destreaming grade 9, say experts, but smaller classes and more supports are needed,” Kristin Rushowy, Toronto Star, July 7, 2020.)
Dr. Charles Pascal, a former Deputy Minister of Education and Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, tweeted (July 9, 2020), “Starting with one subject??? Clueless. Systemic barriers to destreaming success r deep and cross-cutting.”
Dr. Pascal called this “another message of superficial messaging,” (July 9 2020). He wrote (July 12, 2020), “They are sending two messages at the same time. Math is important. Racism is bad...Phoney, insidious, shameful, superficial. The very worst kind of virtue signalling.”
Dr. Pascal told The Pointer that the destreaming announcement is superficial unless there are major changes to how teachers teach, to the curriculum, and to the recruitment of teachers. (“Details scarce as PDSB directive to end streaming in grade 9 is rolled out across the province,” July 8, 2020.)
Dr. Pascal also tweeted (July 9, 2020), “I do not believe that this minister has any moral authority or ideas or knowledge worthy to offer a single public ed teacher in Ontario. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Period.”
Dr. Andy Hargreaves, professor at Boston College and the University of Ottawa tweeted (July 10, 2020), “Ending grade 9 streaming in Ontario, is a good 1st step. Building a better alternative is the next big one.”
Dr. Michael Fullan, professor emeritus and whole system reform expert, tweeted (July 10 2020), “Now we need a solid, complete, education policy that encompasses this piece. Ad hoc policy is a cherry pickers paradise.”
The government did not listen to these education experts. The government did not allow for any constructive or bold dialogue. The government motored ahead and pushed its plans through under the guise of “COVID-19 Economic Recovery,” with a majority government (76 of the 124 seats until they kicked MPP Karahalios out of caucus for voting against her own party’s legislation).
Majoritarianism,” which is a term used by Arleen Huggins in the Peel Review, is contributing to systemic discrimination.
Moreover, the government appointed Jamil Jivani as Special Advisor to the Premier. Mr. Jivani is a lawyer with a background in community safety issues and expertise in helping unemployed teachers transfer their skills to non-school employment opportunities. This is not the type of educational expertise the provincial government needs.
Mr. Jivani’s appointment is even more worrisome when you consider what Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto who studies race and policing, said. Mr. Jivani has “made his way into more and more offices and rooms and positions based on…work that in many ways certainly wouldn’t pass the academic peer-review process.” (See “Ontario’s opportunities advocate accused of anti-Blackness,” Globe and Mail, July 17, 2020.)
Rinaldo Walcott, a Black studies scholar and former director of University of Toronto’s Women and Gender Studies Institute, also said it’s dangerous to have Mr. Jivani in this role because “significant, important policy positions will be obscured.” (See “Ontario’s opportunities advocate accused of anti-Blackness” Globe and Mail, July 17, 2020.)
Arleen Huggins even questioned why a lawyer was assigned anti-black racism tasks in her review of the PDSB.
Therefore, the Ontario Human Rights Commission needs to question the provincial government’s decision to hire a lawyer instead of education experts, too.
We will never eliminate systemic discrimination in education until we deal with the governance structure. And the only way to deal with the governance structure is to take away trustee control over the hiring, promotion and firing of school board employees.
If the government takes away hiring, promotion and firing of school board employees, then what is there left for trustees to do? Not much. So why have them?
Here’s the bottom line: If parents have issues or concerns, they don’t need to contact a school board trustee. They can:
Talk to their child’s teacher. If not satisfied…
Talk to their child’s vice-principal or principal. If not satisfied…
Contact the superintendent. If not satisfied…
Contact the director of education. If not satisfied…
Contact a local advocacy group like the Ontario Learning Disabilities Association or Autism Ontario. If not satisfied…
Contact the Office of the Ontario Ombudsman. If not satisfied…
Contact the local MPP.
The local MPP is the only person who can make a difference. The trustees cannot make one ounce of difference. So why are we deluding ourselves into thinking they can? They can’t, and they don’t.
Anyone who understands our complex education system will tell you that school board trustees are irrelevant. They have no useful purpose, except to protect the government, which allows systemic discrimination to flourish.
And of course school board trustees are irrelevant. Dr. Glaze pointed out in her review of the Nova Scotia education system that the first local school board was established in Boston in 1721. That’s nearly 200 years ago!
We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world – the VUCA world – not a world where there are a few families living in isolated communities who need a teacher for their children.
We’ll never solve pressing and complex issues like systemic discrimination if we don’t change the governance structure!
The provincial government is calling out teachers – and firing racialized directors! – without addressing the root cause of the problem or understanding that the government itself caused the problem when the government significantly decreased the number of school districts, reduced the number of school board members, and took away local autonomy.
The government’s hastily cobbled together equity “strategy,” partially buried in Bill 197, the Covid-19 Economic Recovery Act, 2020, and partly announced to the Toronto Star, will not solve systemic discrimination. It will make systemic discrimination worse!
The government’s response to systemic discrimination is a form of “virtue signalling,” nothing more than compliance without context,” a term used by Investigator Arleen Huggins in her Review of the Peel District School Board.
The Ontario government is using a “limited checkbox approach,” another term used by Huggins in the PDSB Review. (The government had to do something because there were dozens of protests and marches, media frenzy, social media storms, applications to the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, and your letter to Minister Lecce, Mr. Dhir, asking about a provincial plan.)
The current governance structure is so broken that even Black activist groups are advocating to keep racist trustees.
How do I know this?
When I tweeted, “The government is blaming and firing racialized directors for systemic discrimination, but leaving racist trustees intact,” (July 18, 2020), Black Lives Matter – Peel, a group formed to dismantle anti-Black racism in the Peel District School Board, tweeted, “You need to let it go. You are a privileged white woman centring herself in a conversation that doesn't concern you.”
Black Lives Matters – Peel is advocating to keep racist trustees!
There in lies the brokenness – and the complexity – of the education system.
We need a new style of leadership, not less qualified directors. The PDSB Reviewers wrote:
Clearly what the recommendations call for is educators and leaders - including elected leaders - who are aware of their own place in the world and who will bring a higher consciousness and personal commitment to the work of ensuring that every effort has been made to achieve success for all of the children for whom they are responsible. Our recommendations call not only on the PDSB but on the principal organizations within the education sector and within the Ministry of Education to step forward and to redouble their efforts toward ensuring equality in outcomes in education.
In making our recommendations, we call for a new style of leadership in the PDSB and other boards facing similar circumstances; leadership that has, through rigorous assessment of its own strengths and weaknesses, demonstrated the capacity to face the evidence of systemic inequity and to grasp the complexity of the issues facing those less able to advocate for themselves. The task for those leaders is to bend best efforts of our education systems into effective service for all (page 39).
How do we get this new style of governance/leadership?
By eliminating elected school board trustees in favour of regionally appointed advisory councils.
Through consciousness training for everyone involved, including Premier Ford, Minister Lecce and every MPP in the province.
Eliminating streaming and the voluntary suspension of students in JK – 3 make perfect sense as long as there are proper supports and accountability measures in place.
The rest of the education changes the provincial government is making are nothing more than political propaganda, designed to further the government’s agenda of online education, which will worsen systemic discrimination.
Distance education programs will not solve the problem. Neither will hiring non-teachers as directors of education nor blaming and firing racialized directors for a problem the government created itself.
The government must address the broken governance structure or nothing will change.
The Ontario government is doing the exact same thing that Arleen Huggins determined the Peel District School Board (PDSB) director and trustees were doing when Minister Lecce put the PDSB under supervision and terminated the contract of Director of Education Peter Joshua.
Therefore, Premier Ford and Minister Lecce need to be put under supervision, too.
Sincerely,
Debbie L. Kasman
M. Ed, Policy Studies, OISE/University of Toronto, Education Re-imagined, Analyst & Researcher, Author & Speaker
CC: Premier Doug Ford
Education Minister Stephen Lecce
Doug Downey, Attorney General
Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
Ena Chadha, Interim Chief Commissioner, OHRC
Violetta Igneski, Commissioner, OHRC
Randall Arsenault, Commissioner, OHRC
Patrick Case, Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education
Nancy Naylor, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education
Dr. Michael Fullan, Professor Emeritus, OISE/UT
Dr. Charles Pascal, Professor, OISE/UT
Dr. Andy Hargreaves, Professor Boston College and University of Ottawa
Dr. Ann Lopez, Professor, OISE/UT
Dr. Avis Glaze, education thought leader
Annie Kidder, People for Education
Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association
Sam Hammond, President, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario
Harvey Bischof, President, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation
Rusty Hick, Executive Director, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association
Cathy Abraham, President, Ontario Public School Boards’ Association
Tony Pontes, Executive Director, Council of Ontario Directors of Education
Joy Badder, Executive Director, Ontario Public Supervisory Officials Association
Jim Costello, Executive Director, Public Council of Ontario Directors of Education
Allyson Otten, Executive Director, Ontario Principals’ Council
Nancy Brady, President, Ontario Principals’ Council
Brian Jamieson, Ontario College of Teachers