Mississauga, Brampton trustees seek return to power, but is racism in schools under control?

An early experience with racism in high school left a Mississauga student humiliated and unsure of where to turn — and she isn’t alone.

Racism is what got the Peel District School Board in trouble nearly two years ago.

And student trustee Selena Zhou, who attends Glenforest Secondary School in Mississauga, recalls one of her first experiences.

The teacher was out of the classroom when she got into a discussion with a fellow student. But things turned ugly.

“I was called racist names and racist stereotypes,” she told insauga.com. “It was in front of the entire class, and it was quite public. And it was quite humiliating.”

Like many students at the Peel District School Board, Zhou didn’t know where to turn.

“I did not know who I would tell and what I would get out of it if I did tell someone,” she said.

Zhou just graduated and spent her last year as student trustee for the board. She agrees that racism is a very real problem across the school board.

Nearly two years ago, the Province appointed a supervisor to deal with perceived inaction on addressing racism issues. But now most trustees, including Zhou, think it is time to return democratic control to the board.

Concerns about systemic racism

The problems at the board started to surface in 2019 when a trustee reportedly referred to McCrimmon Middle School in Brampton as “McCriminal.” Later, Poleen Grewal, the associate director of instruction and equity with the PDSB, filed a complaint against the board and its director of education with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, accusing them of racism, harassment and diminishing her work while failing to deal with anti-Black racism in schools.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce received equity concerns from families, students, the board’s director of education, the board of trustees, and members of the broader community.

A review team found startling systemic racism in the board’s schools. The team noted “some principals use any excuse to suspend Black students from schools.” Hoodies and hoop earrings could be cause for suspension. They heard homophobic comments such as calling Mayfield Secondary School “Gayfield”, and stigma attached to identifying as Indigenous.

In March of 2020, Lecce set out a list of 27 directions — such as mediation to resolve differences, and hiring an integrity commissioner.

But by April, 28 2020, Lecce appointed Arleen Huggins, employment and human rights lawyer, to investigate inaction on completing the directions. Two trustees – Kathy McDonald and Nokha Dakroub – refused to mediate with other members of the board, citing a lack of faith in the others to pursue meaningful change. Huggins filed her report in May 2020.

Supervisor appointed

In June 2020, the board asked for a supervisor to come until at least the end of that year to help.

“It is the board’s hope that ministry assistance will help ensure all students and staff face a new and better reality when schools reopen in the new school year,” the former board Chair Brad MacDonald said at the time.

In an unprecedented move, Lecce appointed Bruce Rodrigues, a Chancellor of the University of St. Jerome’s at the University of Waterloo, as supervisor. While the province has brought in help for boards unable to deal with financial issues, appointing a supervisor to deal with racism and dysfunction was completely new.

Undemocratic?

While they requested help initially, by last August most of the trustees thought it was time to end supervision. Nine of the 12 trustees wrote an open letter calling for a return to control of the board.

Many trustees feel supervision is undemocratic.

“I personally think the supervision should have ended a long time ago,” said David Green, trustee for Brampton Wards 1 and 5. “I feel that we’re living in a communist country, we’re in that the government come in, take charge.”

Robert Crocker, trustee for Mississauga Wards 6 and 11 has a similar opinion.

“The elected representatives of people in Peel are not being allowed to do their jobs and can’t think of that happening anywhere in the world except in a dictatorship,” said Crocker.

The trustees aren’t able to represent their community fully.

“It is very frustrating that I am elected by my community, to represent them to be the voice at the table for now. And I’m sitting here and I can’t do anything,” Green said.

Student trustee Zhou also agrees supervision is undemocratic.

“They (the trustees) don’t have that power at the board when they’re literally the ones who are elected by the people,” she said.

Was supervision successful?

There is a difference of opinion on how the board has progressed under supervision.

Trustees have continued to respond to calls and emails, addressing the concerns from the community, as they did before.

But over the last two years, Rodrigues has helped the board move forward on policy to address anti-racism, said Mississauga Wards 9 and 10 trustee Nokha Dakroub.

“I think we’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit under the supervisor’s direction,” Dakroub told insauga.

Dakroub said she has had motions passed and still functions as a trustee but they have to go through the supervisor. She says all of the directives are in progress and moving forward, as evidenced by recent reports.

“It’s very policy heavy. So those things take time to actually complete and accomplish,” she said.

Committee structures and the governance model were changed, and bylaws were updated, she said.

“How we function was really the core of the problem.”

Kathy McDonald, trustee for Brampton Wards 3 and 4, agrees.

The supervisor helped move the board in the right direction, said McDonald. Systemic racism wasn’t being addressed before the supervisor took over.

“It was the culture of the board to ignore these things.”

Other board members have a different view of life under supervision.

Brad MacDonald says the board was working hard on the directions before the supervisor stepped in. After two years under supervision, the directives are still not complete, he said.

Crocker wonders why the directives haven’t moved forward.

“What was the holdup? Why haven’t they been completed?”

Green says they got stuck on the directive to mediate as a group but he feels no board is ever going to agree on everything.

“There are times when trustees are going to disagree on issues but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together,” Green said.

Are things improving at schools?

Brad MacDonald thinks the schools have become more divisive in the last two years.

“I don’t think things are improving, and how can they if we don’t even have these directives in place that were meant to improve?” he said.

Zhou said the same problem she faced back in Grade 9 still exists today for many students at Peel schools.

“I think the main issue that stands is just that there’s no structured way to deal with racism right now,” Zhou said. “The board recognizes this.”

She said students don’t know if they should contact the director of education or a trustee.

“If their school doesn’t already have a very strong support system, when it comes to racism…the students don’t know where to go.”

It will take time to get structure in place.

Kathy McDonald said the problems were deeply rooted in the system and they aren’t quick fixes. Issues –  such as a disproportionate number of Black, Indigenous and Latin American students placed in applied level courses and over represented in expulsion and suspension – take time to change.

Policies were updated under supervision. The staff code of conduct, for example, is now clear in dealing with racism.

“It is prescribed, detailed, these things are unacceptable. And there will be the consequences and it can end up in termination,” she said.

And Dakroub says schools are now better equipped to handle racism issues when they come up.

“It’s never going to be perfect. We’re never going to get to a point where you’re never ever going to have something happen. The issue is how do we handle it when it happens?”

What happens next?

Now, as the trustees gear up for an election this fall, MacDonald is wondering when the supervision will end.

“I asked a year ago, specifically, what is the timeline? And what is required for us to get back in power?” MacDonald said.

To date, there is no clear answer to that question.

The Ministry of Education provided a vague answer to insauga.com.

“Our government took decisive action at the Peel District School Board to counter racism, to change the culture in school boards and to give hope and opportunity to all children — regardless of their faith, heritage, colour of skin or orientation,” Grace Lee, a spokesperson for education minister Stephen Lecce said in an emailed statement. “The ministry will continue to support the school board as it makes progress to support student success in and outside of the classroom.”

Mississauga Ward 3 and 4 trustee Sue Lawton doubts they will regain power this term.

“I don’t expect that we’ll be back in a governance position or at the table, as we would say, before the election in October,” she said.

Whatever happens next, the school board won’t be the same after the fall election. Both Dakroub and Crocker say they aren’t running again for trustee.