{"id":17034,"date":"2017-04-12T17:23:18","date_gmt":"2017-04-12T21:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=17034"},"modified":"2017-04-12T17:23:18","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T21:23:18","slug":"education-minister-deeply-troubled-by-yrdsb-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/education-minister-deeply-troubled-by-yrdsb-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Education Minister “deeply troubled” by YRDSB report"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir
\n<\/strong>
\nOntario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter says she was left \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by observances and recommendations in a report looking into alleged systemic racism and other issues within the York Region District School Board.
\nOn Tuesday, the Minister said issues within the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) were \u201csevere\u201d and issued a series of immediate actions and timelines for the YRDSB including immediately suspending international travel by the Director of Education and Board members.
\nWithin 24 hours of Tuesday\u2019s letter to the YRDSB, staff must be encouraged to \u201cmake use of the Board\u2019s Employee Assistance Program as required\u201d and immediately notify the program provider of uptake. A plan will be required by May 9 outlining long-term student and staff support and recovery strategies put in place.
\nThe Board has until April 29 to submit a plan for governance and equity training for all Board members, the Director of Education and senior administration, along with a plan for rebuilding trust within and re-engaging the communities the YRDSB serves.
\nMay 9 the deadline for a number of key directions, including the establishment of policies and processes for receiving and investigating complaints of racism and \u201cany other prohibited ground of discrimination\u201d at the Board and within all schools by staff, students and parents. The YRDSB must also establish the position of a senior administrator responsible for equity, and submit a progress report on retaining an independent consultant to support the establishment of an integrity commissioner.
\nA full appraisal of J. Philip Parappally, the beleaguered Director of Education, by an external human resources professional must also be completed by May 31.
\n\u201cOur government is committed to improving student achievement, ensuring equity, promoting well-being and enhancing public confidence in our publicly funded schools,\u201d said the Minister in a statement. \u201cThis is critical to the success of students in Ontario. After carefully reviewing the observations and recommendations in the report, I am deeply concerned. In particular, the report describes feelings of alienation, marginalization and discrimination expressed by many of the board\u2019s students, parents, staff and members of the community. The board\u2019s leadership \u2013 including the trustees and the Director \u2013 must take the actions necessary to address these concerns.
\n\u201cLet me be clear: racism in our schools and school boards is not acceptable. Ontario\u2019s students and parents must have assurances that their schools are safe and welcoming places to learn, and that they are environments of inclusivity and respect.\u201d
\nAs for the YRDSB, they were swift to respond to the report, stating there was \u201cno time to waste\u201d in responding to the action plan, but raised some concerns of their own.
\n\u201cMessage received, loud and clear,\u201d said YRDSB Board Chair Loralea Carruthers, speaking on behalf of all YRDSB Trustees, in a statement on Tuesday morning. \u201cWe are grateful the Ministry\u2019s report has been released, and would like to thank the Ministry of Education staff for their dedication and professionalism.
\n\u201cWe have only just received the report ourselves, but as a Board, we have immediately begun discussions on how to implement some of the report\u2019s key recommendations. We have seen within the report some significant errors of fact that we have raised directly with the Minister. In addition, we are seeking clarification on a number of points.
\n\u201cThat said, we want parents and students to be assured this report will not be ignored in any way, shape or form. Our primary mission has been, and continues to be, the education and well-being of our students.\u201d
\nIn their response, the YRDSB touted several changes that have taken place already, or are to soon get off the launch plan, including the establishment of committees to \u201cimmediately deal with racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and islamophobia,\u201d meetings with \u201crespected equality experts\u201d to develop and implement a full equality plan, agreed to a \u201ctough arm\u2019s-length Trustee assessment process\u201d and a comprehensive equity training strategy.
\nThey also reiterated the international travel suspension and hiring of the integrity commissioner.
\n\u201cThroughout this review, we have done our utmost to accommodate and assist Ministry staff, while working towards our common goal of addressing the issues surrounding the culture of YRDSB,\u201d said Ms. Carruthers. \u201cWe saw this report as an opportunity to develop a more welcoming and inclusive environment for our students, while maintaining the high academic standards our students are well known for.
\n\u201cWhile the review was still being conducted, YRDSB took several steps to show a greater dedication to diversity and respect for the diverse community the Board serves. A monthly public forum for community feedback was reinstated; community working groups have been established to report to Trustees on addressing classism, anti-black racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism; and Board meetings now begin with an acknowledgement of traditional Indigenous lands.
\n\u201cThere is no more time to waste. \u201cOur kids need an education that is the best we can give \u2013 and an environment free of bias. We pledge today, unequivocally, to give them that.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter says she was left \u201cdeeply troubled\u201d by observances and recommendations in a report looking into alleged systemic racism and other issues within the York Region District School Board. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4qK","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-05 14:19:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}