City schools vow to address racism

Black Lives Matter protests spur need for ‘difficult conversations’

As the white single mother to a child of mixed race, Sarah Lane has gone to battle for her nine-yearold son in a school system that she says has failed to address systemic racism.

Lane’s son, who attends a Catholic K-9 school in the city’s southwest, was playing with a Black classmate during gym class last year when another student called out to them saying, “Hey you Black kids, stop doing that!”

When they continued playing, doing nothing wrong, the same student said, “Do I need to call you guys the N-word?”

When Lane raised the issue with the school, administrators said the situation was “uncomfortable” and that it would be treated as a “bullying” incident with the use of a “swear word.”

Lane then had to take the initiative of explaining the history of slavery, racism and offensive language such as the N-word to her son.

“These are issues that need to be talked about in schools, race needs to be talked about, and kids should be given an opportunity to address difficult questions and have uncomfortable conversations,” Lane said.

“Schools are still treating racism as if it is bullying. But it is not the same thing. It is not the same as being teased for your freckles or for being overweight.

“Racism has a deep history, and that needs to be talked about.”

After several attempts to get clarification on whether the offending student would be disciplined, Lane was told disciplinary action is a private matter.

It wasn’t until Lane pushed the issue several times that she was finally told the child’s parents would be brought into the school to discuss the matter.

“Racism is not just bullying. It will be present for the rest of these kids’ lives, in everyday life, in the workplace when they are older. And schools need to do better to show what zero tolerance really looks like.”

Lane is among a growing number of parents, staff and students raising concerns about issues of race and discrimination in the K-12 system.

The issue has been brought to the forefront in recent weeks after the Black Lives Matter movement has seen massive protests across the United States, Canada and here in Calgary, where much of the debate has centred around educating ourselves about Black history.

Last weekend, hundreds of Calgarians marched and protested in front of the Calgary Board of Education downtown offices demanding educators dismantle systemic racism within the school system.

In response to the growing backlash, officials with the CBE and the Calgary Catholic School District are creating committees to specifically address racism in schools, improve staff training and encourage more conversations around race discrimination in the classroom.

CBE chief superintendent Christopher Usih is building an advisory committee called CARES (CBE Anti-racism and Equity Support) inviting staff, students and people of colour from the community to participate.

“I have been hearing from many people wanting to know how we are addressing issues around racism in our system, and we are paying close attention to what is coming our way,” Usih said.

“But these conversations have to be at a big table, so we are all learning and listening to different voices, given the large, diverse community we serve in our city.”

Usih, a Black immigrant from Nigeria, admits student challenges around racism affect him personally and deeply, but at the same time he is inspired by the global call for change.

“I’m really encouraged that people clearly want to find a way to support young people so they don’t have to experience racism,” he said.

“For educators, this is more than just a moral imperative, there is huge societal value to ensure we create an equitable space for young people to be successful.”

Usih says the committee’s work will focus on embedding more training for teachers around racism awareness and supports for students of colour.

Bryan Szumlas, chief superintendent for the Calgary Catholic School District, said his board has also created a “racial justice” committee.

Szumlas said he feels terrible for Lane and her son, and was not made aware of the incident.

“My heart goes out to this child and this family. This is racism,” he said.

“But in a crisis comes opportunity, so now here is a great opportunity to learn and to improve.”

The CCSD will also improve training for staff around racism, and how to have difficult conversations with students and parents.

“Just because a topic is sensitive does not mean we can be silent, and we need to acknowledge work has to be done,” Szumlas said.

“If we’re going to improve society, we need to have difficult conversations.”

Officials with Alberta Education agreed more needs to be done to address racism in the school system.

Colin Aitchison, press secretary for Education Minister Adriana Lagrange, says while the province’s current K-12 curriculum already addresses some aspects of race by teaching students the importance of diversity, respect and equality, future curriculum will look to include more Black history.

“Alberta’s future K-12 curriculum will include Black history and perspective, and it will continue to address concepts, topics and issues related to anti-racism, particularly in social studies and wellness education,” he said.

Aitchison added that Lagrange recently met with a group behind a petition about anti-racism content in the provincial curriculum to discuss their experiences and suggestions for future curriculum.

Early this year, the UCP government released draft recommendations for a new curriculum with a focus on work readiness, financial literacy and Indigenous knowledge.