Toronto school board seeking sex-ed clarity
Chair puzzled by what can, can’t be taught
The chair of Canada’s largest school board says the Ontario government needs to spell out the differences between its newly released interim sex-ed curriculum and the document it is replacing.
Robin Pilkey, chair of the Toronto District School Board, says the interim curriculum doesn’t clearly address what teachers can and cannot teach when classes resume in less than two weeks.
She said board staff were combing through the new document and the now-repealed modernized version put in place by the former Liberal government in 2015 to figure out how they differ — but noted the province had months to provide that information.
The Ontario government issued the interim curriculum Wednesday, warning that teachers who use the scrapped 2015 version would face consequences and inviting parents to anonymously report potential breaches to the province.
“We will not tolerate anybody using our children as pawns for grandstanding and political games,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in a news release. “Make no mistake, if we find somebody failing to do their job, we will act.”
That warning drew the scorn of the province’s largest teachers’ unions, which have vowed to defend educators who continue to use the modernized version of the sex-ed curriculum.
Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, slammed the move as an attack on educators and accused the government of “manufacturing a crisis” instead of addressing issues like school underfunding.
Critics also described as a “snitch line” a website set up by the government. Parents can use the website to report any teacher who is “jeopardizing their child’s education by deliberately ignoring Ontario’s curriculum,” a government news release said.”
On Thursday, Pilkey said the board already had a mechanism to address parents’ concerns, which focuses on resolving the issue constructively, and said the government’s proposed system was unlikely to bring the same results.
Parents are also unlikely to be familiar enough with the interim and repealed lesson plans to know whether a teacher was using the proper version, particularly given the government’s lack of clarity on the issue, she said.
“The government would have to explain how what they released yesterday is different,” she said. “People want to know that because there are topics people know are in the 2015 curriculum and they want to be sure that is somehow being covered.”
The Tory government’s plan to scrap the 2015 sex-ed curriculum was announced last month, fulfilling one of Ford’s key campaign promises. The document included warnings about online bullying and sexting, but opponents, especially social conservatives, objected to parts addressing same-sex relationships, gender identity and masturbation.
The province has said the interim curriculum will remain in place while it conducts public consultations on a final version, which is expected for the 2019-2020 school years.
It will also seek parental feedback on issues that include math scores, cellphone use, financial literacy and how best to prepare students with needed job skills.
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath slammed the government for creating confusion around the curriculum and not clearly explaining the differences between the 2015 and the now revised lesson plan. “My understanding is it’s not going to include concepts like consent, that it’s not going to address issues like cyberbullying and that leaves our kids at risk,” she said.
“For the purposes of satisfying backroom deals that Mr. Ford made when he was running for the leadership with the radical social conservatives in his party, he’s continuing to put our children at risk.”
She also denounced the anonymous complaints website, calling it an attempt to pit parents against teachers.
“I think this is a tool Mr. Ford is using once again to create divisiveness and it’s a mean-spirited tactic,” she said. “I think parents have every opportunity to raise concerns that they have and they’ve had that opportunity in the past.”