School board crisis may need outside help

The dysfunction at the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board is on full display as the board attempts to deal with the findings of an independent report that found evidence of racism among some trustees. It may be time to bring in outside help.

Ever since the report was released Feb. 3, the board has struggled with an appropriate response. At first there was no suggestion the four trustees involved would face any sanctions. (That changed later, which is appropriate.) At first, they weren’t even identified — their names were redacted in the version of the report released to the public. Which leads to the first troubling question.

Why did the board at first try to conceal the identities of the trustees involved? Did it really think it could keep that information secret?

We are not talking about minor infractions here, especially in this day and age. When her term was complete, HWDSB student trustee Ahona Mehdi called out on social media racist behaviour she had witnessed. She reported that a white trustee claimed there was “too much Black leadership” in the school board.

Her allegations led to the board launching a thirdparty investigation, which was led by lawyer Arleen Huggins. (It is worth noting that while Mehdi made the original allegations they are supported by accounts from other student trustees.)

The report says investigators found evidence of racism. It backed up some — not all — of Mehdi’s allegations, including that there were “efforts to silence her voice.” It found that two trustees made comments that “were not only insensitive but expressions of anti-Black racism.”

One of the trustees — former board chair Alex Johnstone — has apologized, saying she now recognizes “how an absence of an equity-informed understanding of board policy and governance created biases and systemic barriers.”

The other trustees involved have not spoken publicly, which raises another question. The school board is entirely publicly-funded body, and trustees are elected officials. It is not a private club. In what universe is it defensible for elected officials found by an independent third-party report to have exhibited racism to refuse comment? Are they sorry, like Johnstone? Do they deny what the report says? Did they say things they now regret, without realizing fully what they were saying?

We don’t know, because they aren’t talking. Not to the media. Not through the board, which is continuing to deliberate the matter largely behind closed doors. Again, is this a multimillion-dollar public institution or a private club?

And we still don’t know what sanctions, if any, will be levied upon the trustees in question. Apparently, according to a former board chair, the fact that the board used a third party to conduct the investigation means trustees cannot levy sanctions until they themselves investigate. If those are the rules, the rules are broken.

Student activists, and the board’s teachers, want the trustees to resign or be removed. It turns out there may be no mechanism in place for them to be removed. Not by the board, and not by the province, which holds ultimate authority. In previous controversies at other boards, the experience was the same. And again, something is broken here.

So we really have two problems, not one. The mess at HWDSB which the board seems unable to deal with. And the system that allows Ontario school trustees and boards to avoid accountability.

The provincial education ministry says it is keeping an eye on the Hamilton situation. It may need to do more than that and get directly involved.