Too little too late! Are ministerial directives going to be enough to save the Peel District School Board?

BY PAUL JUNOR

The appointment of Arleen Huggins by the Minister of Education, Stephen Leece was announced on Wednesday, April 28^th to investigate Peel District School Board’s (PDSB) compliance with the twenty-seven ministerial directives that it received.

Ms Arleen Huggins is qualified for this task as former president of the Canadian Association of Black Leaders (CABL). She has thirty years of expertise in: employment law, human rights, workplace harassment and discrimination investigations.

Media attention has been focused on the PDSB since November 2019 when the ministry review was launched. Four months later when it received the report on March 13^th, there were expectations with respect to addressing the significant and widespread issues that were identified with respect to: systematic discrimination specifically anti-black racism, dysfunctional governance, leadership and human resources practices.

The release of the twenty-seven ministerial directives by the Ministry of Education was intended to put structures in place to address these issues. The PDSB accepted all ministerial directives at its March 24^th virtual board meeting, some of which included: an apology to the Black community, development of diversity plan, learning plan for senior staff, equity plan, collection of race-based data as well as anti-Bush awareness training by the trustees to uncover, comprehend and deal with their individual biases.

One of the first things that the PDSB was able to do was the issuance of a public apology, which was released on April 16^th on the PDSB’s website. This was truly remarkable as it signals hope and optimism for the rebuilding of trust between the trustees and black community.

Unfortunately, two Peel School Board trustees: Kathy McDonald and Nokhal Dakroun as well as the board anti-racism chief decided to take a leave of absence. Kathy a long-standing black community member states, “I am not mediating when they have ramped up their attacks on the black community. The disdain for my community is palpable. Since the review concluded, it became apparent to me that there is insufficient appetite around the board table to tackle the issues presented in the report effectively.”

The Minister of Education, Stephen Leece has become aware of the challenges with respect to the PDSB’s compliance of these ministerial directives within the timeframe that it has allotted. Ms Huggins is expected to complete her report on or before May 18^th. In its new release on April 28th, he states,  “We expect our school leaders-trustees, senior administration, and educators ‘to ensure all students are learning in safe and inclusive conditions. This is why effective, transparent and accountable school Board governance is essential to the success and well-being of students in Ontario’s ‘publicly funded schools.”

The Minister is serious about ensuring that the PDSB complies with all its directives especially in tackling anti-black racism. He states, “When it comes to confronting racism and discrimination, I will not accept delay or inaction. The message I am sending is do better. Our kids deserve better. I will do whatever it takes to ensure these issues are addressed and effectively.”  In his tweet on April 28^th he wrote, “When it comes to confronting racism and discrimination, I will not accept any delay or inaction.” He will not wait.

During my fifteen minutes with Stephen Leece on Thursday, April 30^th, he reiterated his commitment to ensuring that equity; social justice, fairness and tolerance are principles that the PDSB have to follow. He is strongly supportive of important ministerial directives especially:

• Directive 6 (mandatory trustee learning plan)
• Directive 7 (composition of board committee)
• Directive 8 (director’s performance appraisal)

He will not stop until the PDSB complies with all twenty-seven ministerial directives given the many years of unresolved issues.

The minister is particularly concerned that the PDSB has contravened his binding directions with respect to: mandatory mediation, and with respect to good governance among senior staff members. He states in the news release,

“The Ministry has concerns about the PDSB’s ability to provide good governance and that the lack of cooperation among the members of the board, and among the senior leadership team, which might result in a contravention of other directives, specifically 6, 7, 8, 12 and 16.”

 According to Chair Macdonald, “We have much work to do as a team to rebuild our relationship with each other, and with the community to improve outcomes for students and staff. We will not be able to do any of this necessary work if we do not work together as a cohesive unit. Supported by the mediator, we hope to return to effective and respectful governance focused on students so that we can work to eliminate anti-black racism and systematic discrimination.”