Thursday, September 24, 2020
Dear Ontario School Board Trustees,
As you are no doubt aware, in March 2020 the Ministry of Education released the Peel District School Board (PDSB) Review, which shows extreme dysfunction, governance issues, and systemic discrimination in the PDSB. The issues are so severe that the director of education was terminated and the Board placed under Supervision. The Reviewers wrote that the policies and practices that are creating, perpetuating, and reproducing inequities, need to be exposed, challenged, and dismantled.
That’s why I’m writing to you.
Education Minister Lecce issued 27 Directions in response to the PDSB Review. Direction #2 was for the PDSB to immediately remove trustees from hiring, promotion and placement panels for all positions, except director of education, and to create a policy restricting trustees from hiring, promotion and placement panels for all positions, except director of education.
Minister Lecce also ordered an investigation into the PDSB’s willingness to comply with his Directions after further issues arose. Arleen Huggins completed the investigation, and determined that the collective Board and the Director’s Office in the PDSB were lacking both the ability and capacity, and perhaps even more importantly, the will, to address the findings in the Ministry Review.
After immediately removing themselves from hiring panels for all positions, except director of education, and after creating a policy restricting themselves from hiring panels for all positions, except director of education, some of the trustees in the PDSB were still planning on sitting on the hiring panel for the hiring of two new Integrity Commissioners.
On June 5, 2020, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) wrote to Minister Lecce stating, “The OHRC would appreciate the Ministry advising whether there are any plans to expand the implementation of the Directions beyond Peel region.” This was because the discrimination is very severe and is happening in other school boards across the province.
I wrote to the OHRC as well, and on August 14, 2020, I received a response from the OHRC stating that the well-being of Black, Indigenous and racialized students in the province must become a government priority, especially during the pandemic when issues of inequality are exacerbated, and that the Commission is monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the PDSB Review, and several of the recommendations would address my concerns. The Commission specifically pointed to Directive #2 restricting trustees from participating on hiring, promotion and appointment panels, for positions other than the director of education, as one of the necessary provincial changes.
But Minister Lecce has not yet made this provincial change.
I wrote to Minister Lecce and the Director of Education for the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board (KPRDSB) - my former school board - on September 8, 2020 requesting that Minister Lecce and Director Jennifer Leclerc confirm in writing that trustees will be restricted from hiring panels for all positions, except director of education, in school boards across the province and in the KPRDSB.
I made this formal request through a Form 10 Request for Documentary Disclosure through the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. I had already filed an Application with the Tribunal about the discrimination that is currently happening in education in Ontario, and the fact that trustees in the KPRDSB have been refusing to remove themselves from hiring panels because they do not want “to readily give in to having their authority removed.” This statement was made in a Chairperson’s Committee Meeting by trustees themselves, and documented in Board minutes.
On September 22, 2020, I received a response from KPRDSB’s legal counsel stating that the Board is not required to produce documents until the Tribunal has issued a Notice of Hearing about my Application, and the Board should not be required by the Tribunal to expend resources to respond to my Request. The KPRDSB asked the Tribunal to grant them leave from responding until the Tribunal issues a Notice of Hearing about my Application.
Rather than doing the right thing – removing trustees from hiring panels – trustees in the KPRDSB are playing legal games, and using taxpayers’ dollars to do it, during a pandemic no less, when there isn't enough money to keep kids safe.
This is an excellent example of why policies and practices need to be exposed, challenged, and dismantled.
The KPRDSB’s decision to ask for a leave from responding to my request may be legal, but it’s unethical and immoral because the practice of trustees sitting on hiring panels leads to discrimination.
In February 2020, community activist and parent Idris Orughu was banned from all PDSB board properties because he was advocating for much needed change there. Rather than dealing with the issues Mr. Orughu raised, the PDSB banned Mr. Orughu from all school board properties.
On Wednesday, the Supervisor of the PDSB, Bruce Rodrigues, apologized to Mr. Orughu for acts of discrimination and anti-Black racism saying “the issuing of the notice of trespass and contacting the Peel Regional Police were acts of discrimination and anti-Black racism ... (The board) recognizes and apologizes on behalf of senior leadership for the impact of that trespass letter on Mr. Orughu’s advocacy efforts to change education policies that perpetuate anti-Black racism and oppressive practices.”
When Minister Lecce was contacted about the situation, he said it was “most regrettable” the way the Peel board treated Orughu.
“To be kicked out, to be targeted for opposition … is contrary to the values of democracy, decency, and civility, which we need,” said Lecce.
Minister Lecce has not yet responded to my Request that he confirm all trustees will be restricted from hiring panels in school boards across the province.
A response is due in a few days.
Will Minister Lecce respond appropriately by restricting trustees from hiring panels and thereby demonstrate values of democracy, decency, and civility?
Or will Minister Lecce take the same approach that trustees in the KPRDSB are taking and ask the Tribunal to grant him leave from responding, stating he is not required to produce documents until the Tribunal has issued a Notice of Hearing, and he should not be required to expend resources to confirm he will be restricting trustees from hiring panels in order to help dismantle systemic discrimination in education?
We’ll know what level of consciousness Minister Lecce is operating from when he issues a response.
What level of consciousness are you operating from?
Have you insisted trustees be restricted from hiring panels in your school board yet?
Yours truly,
Debbie L. Kasman
M. Ed, Policy Studies, OISE/University of Toronto, Education Re-imagined, Analyst & Researcher, Author & Speaker
{Update: The deadline for Minister Lecce to respond has come and gone. To date, there has been no response.
On November 13, 2020, the Director of Policy, Education, Monitoring and Outreach for the Ontario Human Rights Commission Shaheen Azmi confirmed in writing that Minister Lecce has not responded to the Commission’s June 5th letter, either.
Watch my latest video: The Trouble With School Board Trustees.]