STUCKLESS ARRESTED
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Toronto public board statistics showing that black students were suspended at triple the rate of white students confirms what educators have known — and it’s time to bring about change, experts say. “It is good to have the data out in the public,” says Jeff Kugler, executive director of the Centre for Urban Schooling, at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. “The real question is: What are we all prepared to do about it? How do we all work to make schools and classrooms places that connect to all kids, value all communities, all parents, and expect all kids to succeed?” An analysis of the 2006-07 school year data obtained by the Star shows that while black students make up about 12 per cent of students in Toronto public high schools, they accounted for more than 31 per cent of all suspensions. White students make up 29 per cent of suspensions, and represent about one-third of all students. The numbers are taken from the Toronto District School Board’s 2006 census survey, at a time the provincial zero-tolerance policy was in place. Now scrapped, that get-tough rule has been replaced by a system that gives principals more flexibility when meting out discipline, and encourages preventative measures instead of suspensions. Lawyer Osborne Barnwell, who represents many black clients alleging discrimination and has done pro bono work for families with school problems, wasn’t surprised by the data. But it nevertheless brought him to tears.
“I get so upset,” Barnwell said in an interview in his north Toronto office. “I know it’s true, but it is so shameful that I am embarrassed.
“When there was zero tolerance, I did a lot of free work, because to me it’s a human right to have access to education, and I believe in my heart of hearts that is one of the ways that we are going to get out of this impoverishment. If you elevate your mind, if you educate your mind, then you have a vision of yourself, pushing yourself through.”
“The real question is: What are we all prepared to do about it?” JEFF KUGLER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR URBAN SCHOOLING
The board’s numbers show that aboriginal students are suspended at the highest rate, followed by black students. Asian students are suspended at the lowest rates.
The Toronto board’s director of education, Donna Quan, said the board is trying several ways to reduce suspensions, including training staff in cultural sensitivity, offering joint after-school programs and employment help with community groups, and using alternatives such as “restorative justice” programs that bring offenders and victims together to talk about how to resolve their differences. “We do have some wonderful partnerships with the community, but we have to develop more longterm collaborations,” she said.
“We recognize there is greater need for attention among certain subsets of learners, including aboriginal students, and we have to be more preventive at an earlier age.”