Viral video highlights discrimination at Halton board

Medina Jones barely managed to submit her university applications on time. It wasn’t for a lack of preparation.

In fact, the Grade 12 student at Oakville Trafalgar High School in the Halton District School Board has been working her entire high school career with the aim of attending a prestigious British university where she could excel in her selected field of study.

Anti-Black racism is what almost kept her from moving closer towards that dream, she says.

To apply to the U.K., Jones required a letter from her school providing a set of predicted grades based on both her previous achievements and what she and her teachers expected she would achieve in her courses this year.

The British system leaves room for discretion, according to the U.K.based Universities and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS), though it outlines policies to guide educators on how to ensure grades are neither inflated nor suppressed.

“Students should be given the opportunity to discuss their predicted grades with you,” reads UCAS’s recommendations. “It may be that they can demonstrate progress, and you’re comfortable in changing their prediction. Equally, you may not be aware of extenuating circumstances that have affected their performance to date.”

Yet Jones claimed that the school’s guidance department didn’t consult with her past teachers, nor did it speak to her about her goals. Instead, she was dismayed to find she was provided with several predicted grades that were below what her record indicated she would likely achieve.

From Jones’s perspective, this was just one more example of a pattern of anti-Black racism in which Black and racialized students at the school were discouraged from pursuing ambitious goals.

She took to Instagram to share her story earlier this month. The video went viral, racking up more than 15,000 views. It was liked and commented on by past and present students, some of whom shared their own experiences of racism.

In the meantime, her mother, Rowda Mohamud, wrote to the school and to the board’s principal of equity and inclusive education, as per process.

The official followed up with the school principal. After a frustrating back and forth, Jones eventually received revised predicted grades she felt more fairly reflected her capabilities, though without any further transparency.

School superintendent Tina Salmini told the family an investigation was underway, though she would not confirm it in response to a media query, saying only that the allegations “are serious and will be responded to accordingly and in conjunction with our policies and procedures.”

The school’s director of education, Stuart Miller, met with Mohamud and Jones, and later tweeted that “although the specific incident that came to light this week has been resolved, the much larger issues both she and the comments illustrated have not yet been fully addressed. It is clear from the comments and sentiments expressed by her and the other Black and racialized students of the HDSB that there is much work for us to do to end anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.”

(Jones and Mohamud said they won’t consider their issue “resolved” without an apology and accountability.)

That same day, Jones’ principal sent out a statement to the school community acknowledging concerns around “systemic discrimination” and inviting students to submit experiences through an online form.

Alexsis Morrison, who is Black and currently a second-year college student, said she took the school up on its offer. Back in Grade 10, she was told her 80 per cent average wasn’t good enough for her to transfer to the school by the same guidance counsellor accused of discriminating against Jones.

She said her brother, currently in Grade 11, was also treated unfairly and discouraged from pursuing academiclevel courses.

Hang Yin, a Grade 12 student of Asian descent, reported that she’d witnessed racist and discriminatory behaviour from peers, which staff repeatedly failed to address.

And Duha Ismail, also in Grade 12, told me she was frustrated the form only provided space for 200 words. “I could type essays about the discrimination I’ve gone through,” said Ismail, who identifies as both Muslim and Arab.

All three young women said they are proud of Jones’s stand and said they hope the board will answer for what students of colour like them have endured for far too long.