Peel trustees call for end to supervision
Letter demands province remove appointee tasked with addressing racism
Peel District School Board trustees are calling for an end to the provincial supervision put in place over a year ago to address racism and dysfunction within the school board.
Signed by nine of 12 elected trustees from wards in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon, the open letter is demanding Ontario’s Minister of Education Stephen Lecce “withdraw the Supervisor and promptly return us to the roles which Peel voters chose us to fulfil.”
“Trustees can meet and elect a chair and vice chair before the school year 2021-22 begins,” the letter says.
Bruce Rodrigues, a longtime educator who ran the provincial standardized testing body EQAO, started his role as supervisor of the public school board in late June 2020. He was appointed by the province.
Rodrigues’s role was to address anti-Black racism and Islamophobia at the province’s second largest board and curb dysfunction among trustees and senior leaders.
A final report by independent investigators highlighted issues such as teachers using “any excuse to exclude Black students from the classroom.”
After giving the board a chance to address these issues in early June 2020 and a final warning by Lecce over the lack of progress, Rodrigues was implemented as supervisor.
The nine trustees say the new school board director, Rashmi Swarup, who began her new role on Aug. 16, and other senior staff should have “community guidance through their democratically elected representatives.”
“It is vital that the Trustees, entrusted as we are with the confidence of the voters in Peel, spend the next fifteen months making sure that the Peel District School Board is running smoothly when a new board takes over in November, 2022,” the letter read.
The nine trustees who signed the open letter are Robert Crocker of Mississauga Wards 6 and 11, Stan Cameron of Caledon Wards 1 through 5, David Green of Brampton Ward 1 and 5, Will Davies of Brampton Wards 2 and 6, Carrie Andrews of Brampton Wards 7 and 8, John Marchant of Mississauga Wards 1 and 7, Brad MacDonald of Mississauga Wards 2 and 8, Sue Lawton of Mississauga Wards 3 and 4, and Susan Benjamin of Mississauga Ward 5.
Davies apologized at a board meeting in 2019 after referring to the racially diverse McCrimmon Middle School in Brampton as “McCriminal.”
“As confirmed by numerous independent reviews — the PDSB was unable to serve the interests of students, with governance dysfunction and systemic racism perpetuated,” Caitlin Clark, a spokesperson for the education minister, told the Star Thursday. “The decision to appoint a supervisor in June 2020 to the Peel DSB was not taken lightly.”
She went on to say that although progress has been made under Rodrigues, “we know there is more to do.”
“That is why the Board will remain under supervision until the Minister — and the broader community — is satisfied that his directions are fully addressed and fulfilled, specifically when it comes to combating racism,” Clark said.
Clark pointed out that first binding direction to the board was to show that they could work together to serve the interests of students, and that three missing signatures from the open letter are an indication of an ongoing divide on the stillfractured board.
Clark said that Rodrigues will remain in place until the board has met all the binding directions issued to them on March 13, 2020.