Minister orders probe of troubled York board
Province to investigate complaints of systemic racism, trustee conduct
After months of scandal, Ontario’s education minister is taking “urgent action” and sending in two troubleshooters to investigate allegations of widespread racism and other problems that have rocked York Region’s public school board. The move, announced Thursday by Minister Mitzie Hunter and first reported by the Star, will also look at trustee accountability and how to improve relations with the parents and community — and whether trustees and the director of education “are fulfilling their legislated duties.”
“When there are concerns that are raised, we cannot shy away from those concerns,” Hunter said in an interview, adding the drastic step is needed to regain public confidence in the province’s third largest school board.
“We have to ensure that the leadership is responsive and is addressing the concerns that are raised.”
The newly elected chair of the troubled board, Loralea Carruthers, welcomed the move, acknowledging it is “clear that there is a lot of hard work the board must do to regain public trust.”
For parents, long frustrated and feeling ignored, it “finally feels like we are being heard.”
“I am feeling like justice is on its way,” said Charline Grant, who launched a human rights complaint against the board over the way her son was treated. She was also the target of a racial slur, uttered by a trustee after a public meeting.
“This is what we have been fighting for, for our children to have equal opportunity and to not be devalued . . . I hope this issue is actually named as systemic racism. And I hope that there are policies in place and solid consequences for those who violate it.”
The reviewers’ job will be similar to that of Margaret Wilson, who in 2015 swept into the Toronto public board to interview staff and community members, making a number of recommendations after the climate turned toxic under its previous director. But as bad as things were in that board, the education minister of the day sent in just one reviewer.
In this case, Hunter has appointed two — human rights specialist and lawyer Patrick Case and education veteran Suzanne Herbert — because of the broad scope of issues involved.
“The reason I am asking these reviewers to go in and take a look at the performance of the York Region District School Board is that I am hearing repeated concerns from parents and from students. As minister, I have to be assured that this board is on the right track, is addressing these issues and that parents are feeling heard — and, frankly, that public confidence is restored in this board.”
Over the past year, the Star has uncovered a number of occasions where the York board ignored or failed to properly deal with incidents of racism and Islamophobia.
On a personal level, Hunter said the situation at York is “unacceptable.”
“It’s sad because a student lives in the community and the school is part of that. They should go, they should feel happy. We know when students feel included . . . they do better in school. That’s the focus of this. And
“As minister, I have to be assured that this board is on the right track . . . that public confidence is restored.” MITZIE HUNTER EDUCATION MINISTER
when there is a situation that is not happening, we have to confront that.”
The York board has more recently come under fire after a trustee used a racial slur to refer to a black parent, taking months to deal with it as frustrations in the community mounted.
Back in November, Hunter first met with director J. Philip Parappally and then-chair Anna DeBartolo after the Star revealed a series of complaints from parents about discrimination against black students, a principal’s anti-Muslim Facebook posts, for which she later apologized, concerns about the board’s ineffective equity policies and trustee secrecy around their international travel.
Staff had also told the Star about morale issues, an exodus of senior staff and a growing “climate of fear” at the board. Questions have also arisen around the director’s unprec- edented 10-year contract and jobfor-life provision awarded to him by trustees in 2014.
“I was not provided with the reassurance that the board had an adequate plan in place to deal with these issues, so I asked the board to submit a report outlining their plan of action by Jan. 13,” Hunter said during that meeting.
She said the board’s response “failed to meet assurances that these issues were being adequately addressed by the board.”
The reviewers, who are to submit a report by April 7, will “recommend improvements, particularly regarding equity, accountability and transparency, to regain public confidence in the school board,” she said.
“In addition, they will recommend ways to improve the working relationships at the board, including amongst trustees, between the board and the director of education, and between the director of education and senior staff, and with the community, and they will review whether board members and the director of education are fulfilling their legislated duties.”
Case is a University of Guelph professor who chairs Ontario’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre and is director of a human rights program at Osgoode Hall. He was also a trustee for six years with the old Toronto board.
Herbert was deputy minister in several ministries, including education, and since retiring has worked with the government on adult education, funding for universities and future directions for Ontario colleges.
Since she took over the role as trustee chair in December, Carruthers has been in damage-control mode. A letter penned this month by trustees to respond to the minister’s concerns around racism in the board was meant to be “a first step” and “wasn’t meant to right all the wrongs,” she said. She admitted it was a big step to even “get all the trustees to acknowledge there is a problem.”
The board has faced further criticism about how it handled the investigation of trustee Nancy Elgie, 82, who admitted to using a racial slur in reference to a black parent.
This week, Elgie publicly apologized for her language, citing a recent head injury as the reason for her comments. But the veteran elected official has yet to heed calls from over 2,500 — and growing — community members who have signed a petition demanding her resignation.