After impassioned pleas from local community groups, Simcoe County District School Board trustees agreed to two strategies they hope will shed light on police presence and systemic racism in Simcoe County schools.
Midland/Penetanguishene/Tay/Tiny trustee Tyler Boswell put forward a motion recommending the board start publishing data regarding suspensions and expulsions which could include demographic data such as gender and race.
Currently, data on suspensions and expulsions is collected and provided annually by the board, however it is limited to the total number of suspensions and expulsions board-wide, and does not include breakdowns by age, race or gender.
“Having this data would be very beneficial for us to target our response to any issues that may exist,” he said. “My original intention is to have data on age, race, sexual orientation of students if it is disclosed by them to (understand) if there is a bigger issue here.”
New Tecumseth trustee Sarah Beitz put forward a motion recommending that the board provide a yearly report on all programs and activities involving police partners in elementary and secondary schools.
“As you will recall, back in June we had two delegations that raised concerns about police presence in our schools,” said Beitz.
Two deputations given during the June 16 Simcoe County District School Board meeting covered the topic of school resource officers at both the elementary and secondary levels, with both presenters asking the public board to reconsider the practice of allowing police officers to be a constant presence in local schools as it can cause anxiety for students from racialized groups.
During the board meeting earlier this week, Superintendent of Education Dean Maltby shared a report on the current efforts and next steps toward equity, diversity and inclusion, outlining the focus of work moving into the 2021-2022 school year.
That work will include an equity audit, review/renewal of the police/school board protocol, the continuation of the Black graduation coaches pilot project, the development of an Equity Advisory Committee as well as continued training for all staff on anti-racism and anti-oppression.
The school resource officer program was dissolved at the Toronto District School Board in November 2017. Peel Region followed suit in Nov. 2020, as have multiple other school boards across Ontario.
“Although we were asked to eliminate police from our schools, I think that would be a Band-Aid solution because it would only address schools and wouldn’t get to the heart of the issue, which is systemic racism,” said Beitz during the meeting.
“We need to be more aware. I feel I do not know enough about what is going on with these partnerships in our schools, and I want to know,” she said. “If you cancel something, you cannot study it. I really want to study it.”
Beitz said her motion was worded vaguely deliberately to give staff flexibility to negotiate what could be released in conversations with each affected police service.
“Ideally, police already keep a record. We want to get a baseline. I understand this could be a big undertaking, and we would need the support of our police partners,” she said.
Innisfil trustee Donna Armstrong asked whether individual police calls to schools, such as situations involving the Children’s Aid Society, would be included in the review.
“Those are matters, I think, are separate to what this motion is about. I think it’s about building community pathways with our officers,” said Armstrong.
Barrie trustee Beth Mouratidis said trustees are looking for more access to information.
“Part of the problem is, police are going into schools with programs, and we don’t know what they are. I, personally, have never seen them. I’m guessing most of the trustees here, if any, haven’t seen them,” she said. “I would like to have access to what is being brought into our schools. I don’t think that’s unreasonable.”
According to public school board officials, a police/school board protocol currently exists between the four school boards and four police services that serve Simcoe County and area.
To read our story on different police programs currently in place in schools across Simcoe County, click here.
The programs will be reviewed next year, as part of the regular process, at which time the SCDSB will engage in conversations about programming and supports.
When it came to the motion about data of suspensions and expulsions, Trustee North shared concerns about whether there could be human rights considerations in collecting that data.
“Expulsions don’t happen everyday, thank goodness, they only happen from time to time. As far as protection of the privacy of the student, it could be a concern,” said North.
Director of Education John Dance said staff would have to be careful in collecting data to not wade into protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code.
“At the same time, as long as it’s not a low enough number of students to identify anyone, the numbers can be pulled out and correlated,” said Dance.
Dance reminded trustees that data on this subject is already collected at a provincial level so providing it on a board-wide level wouldn’t be a major deviation.
Trustee Beitz said it would be beneficial for the SCDSB to have a report with their own suspension and expulsion data so they could compare it to the provincial report.
“I think it’s important to know when we hear stats (provincially) that indicate systemic racism, that we get an indication of where we are in Simcoe County,” she said. “If our Black students or any other group are being suspended more disproportionately, it’s important to know it.”
Barrie trustee David O’Brien asked how data would be collected, and whether students would be self-reporting.
“Are we asking staff to identify if a student who is suspended is Black, white, or mixed, or of a minority, or a different gender than their assignment?” he asked.
Dance said the board would start with providing data on suspensions and expulsions and possibly progress toward adding a breakdown by race, gender and sexual orientation down the road.
Barrie trustee Lisa-Marie Wilson spoke to her own experience.
“As a visible minority myself, I have no problems identifying that, especially when I know it’s going to benefit research and help to address things like systemic racism and discrimination,” she said.
“I think it’s important we move toward change,” said Wilson.
Both motions were approved unanimously by trustees.
