Schools to collect race data on staff

HUMAN RIGHTS DEAL

Canada’s largest school board has been ordered to collect racebased data on senior staff as part of a settlement with a black teacher who says he was repeatedly passed over for promotion because of his race. The Ontario Human Rights Commission settlement comes a decade after Francis OmoruyiOdin first complained of being turned down for promotions by the former Scarborough school board, where he had worked for about 20 years, despite being qualified. He is still a classroom teacher, and close to retirement.

Although his complaints were targeted at the Scarborough board, the complaint transferred to the amalgamated Toronto District School Board.

According to the deal, reached in August after months of mediation, the board must collect race- based statistics on principals, vice-principals, curriculum leaders ( department heads) and their assistants using selfidentification surveys. It must update those numbers in four years and present the information at a public board meeting.

“ I fear that I am part of a lost

generation of highly qualified African- Canadian teachers who never made it to positions of responsibility within schools and boards of education,” OmoruyiOdin said in a statement released yesterday by the African Canadian Legal Clinic, which represented him before the commission.

“ Many of us who have retired or are now reaching retirement age tried and many gave up or didn’t bother because they knew the deck was stacked against them.

‘‘ I know that younger teachers are now facing the same struggle. My hope is now things will start to change.” The board has also been ordered to establish a selection process where people promoted to the positions of department head, principal and superintendent must show a proven commitment to equity.

“ One of the things that’s keeping us from (obtaining racebased data) is figuring out a way to do it without infringing on people’s rights,” Toronto board chair Sheila Ward said last night. “ But if they’ve said we have to do it then okay, we’ll do it.” The Human Rights Commission will have to provide guidance on how to properly and legally collect the data, she said, adding she worries about the accuracy of data if is left up to individuals to self- identify. The settlement comes as the board has come under fire for its treatment of black students, particularly complaints that it disciplines black students more harshly under the province’s tough new code of conduct. Those complaints sparked a recent investigation of the board by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, but some members of the black community also have called for blackfocused schools to nurture students who feel neglected by mainstream schools. The board is addressing these concerns by creating two positions: an employment equity manager to ensure staff are treated fairly and an equity watchdog to ensure students of all backgrounds are treated fairly. Also, trustees have asked a committee of educators to study ways of gathering race-based statistics on students to track issues such as their achievement and discipline orders.

However, it’s unclear what the board has done about gathering race- based statistics on teachers since the settlement was reached, said Sheena Scott, director of legal services at the African Canadian Legal Clinic.

In fact, few teachers even know of the settlement, which is why the clinic and the Canadian Alliance of Black Educators are calling a news conference today. It is expected to announce an advisory committee to offer to assist the board to ensure the measures are implemented. The case of Omoruyi-Odin dates back to 1995, when he first filed complaints against the Scarborough board. Omoruyi-Odin, who immigrated to Canada from Nigeria and has been teaching with the board since 1977, holds two undergraduate degrees and a master’s degree in science in education. He also earned qualifications to become a principal.

In 1997, he filed another complaint with the commission, saying that after he’d lodged his first complaint, his conduct and performance as a teacher had been unfairly scrutinized by a particular vice- principal. The commission found merit in Omoruyi- Odin’s complaints and referred the case to a tribunal in 2000, by which time the board had been amalgamated. The hearing, which spanned four years, centred around four specific occasions between 1993 to 1997 when Omoruyi-Odin was passed over for the position of department head or assistant department head. The tribunal also heard evidence from other African- Canadian teachers who had not been promoted or who faced barriers to advancing their careers.

Hearings came to an abrupt end in November 2004 and both sides moved to mediation, reaching a decision in August. Because the terms of settlement have been incorporated into an order of the human rights commission, it is enforceable.