A Case Study – Problem Solving a Race Issue with the Upper Grand District School Board 2020

The beginning to end story of my conversation with the Upper Grand District School Board about their adoption of Critical Race Theory.  The emails and lies are all in chronological order on this document.

It started with an Email to the FSLAC Group. FSLAC is a french as a second language committee that I volunteer for. It looks at the french language curriculum.  

This story will be told by screenshots of email conversations. I will clarify everything in the pages. I have removed the email addresses and last names for privacy.

Initially I received an email from the UGDSB talking about racism and inequality in the board. To give context i’m a former youth care worker. I have worked in school boards (including the UGDSB) for 15 years over my career. I currently (as of August 2020) sit on the FSLAC committee (french language advisory) for the UGDSB. This is a volunteer position and one I have held for more than a year.  I was also a union steward and negotiator, so tough conversations with people do not intimidate me much.

Here is the link to the contents of the email.

https://www.ugdsb.ca/schools/safe-equitable-and-inclusive-schools/equity-and-inclusive-education/

It says:

Anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism is deeply rooted in our country, society, institutions and our history, and much work needs to be done to address this systemic racism. As an educational community we have a responsibility to identify and describe racism and oppression and then work to dismantle it. The Upper Grand District School Board is committed to disrupting systemic racism and oppression in all of its forms. We will implement ongoing mandatory anti-racism and anti-oppression training for all staff, review our protocols and policies, including our hiring practices, and be fully transparent and accountable to all Upper Grand students, staff, families, and stakeholders in an ongoing manner.

When I read that I was confused. Coming from a school background I know how much is done to ensure kids have a fair opportunity. I know how much training is done in school boards for all staff, from educational assistants to teachers and administrators. I know how it’s already mandatory and has been since the early 2000’s when I started. If not before (but i can’t vouch for before). I digress, I took my first hand knowledge and sent the following email to my FSLAC committee:

Hello all,

I just saw an email discussing anti black racism in the upper grand board. 

https://www.ugdsb.ca/schools/safe-equitable-and-inclusive-schools/equity-and-inclusive-education/

Can you give me any examples of this “deeply rooted” problem from the 2019/2020 school year? We had until nearly March break of a regular school year. Please share the instances of systemic racism in our board that you have seen or have become major issues. Obviously I don’t want identifying information, but if this problem is so deeply rooted and systemic we must have many examples of racism from this school year to discuss. 

Further, I am a former youth care worker with this board. Is it the position of the ugdsb that they hired racist staff? A system is made up of its people. The infastructure is secondary. It’s not the buildings that are racist, it’s the people. So, is it the position that the board has hired many racist staff? Or is it the students who are the deeply rooted racists? 

The release further says:

 As an educational community we have a responsibility to identify and describe racism and oppression and then work to dismantle it. 

This should mean that you have already identified racism issues to fix  Can you share what you’ve identified? Because if the mandate is to find the racism I have an even bigger problem with this than I initially thought.  If we aren’t solving a specific, measurable item, then this is just empty rhetoric to facilitate a witch hunt. Find those racists, whereever they hide (while ignoring the boards role in?)

Honestly, this looks like a virtue signaling witch hunt. One that is determined to find racism in our midst.  I have worked in schools. I know what kind of training we go through for equity and inclusion. This virtue signaling from the board is concerning because I have to send my children to be educated in this system. If the board believes their system to be racist it should have been an initiative before the world went crazy about the death of an American. Again, I’ve worked in this field since 2003. I’ve been to the inclusion and equity training regularly. Did it stop in 2016?

 

Specifically, where is the racism in our  UGDSB school board? Please use current examples. If there is no racism or no specific problems to solve other than “systemic racism that is systemic” then this is not a good use of board resources. 

 

Looking forward to discussing the current, concrete examples of racism effecting the ugdsb. 

 

Thanks for your time. 

 

Mark

Good Morning Mr. Paralovos

My name is Cheryl  and I am the Superintendent with responsibilities for the Equity and Inclusion, Indigenous Education, Accessibility and Safe Schools portfolios. Your email below was brought to my attention yesterday.

It is my understanding that your email went to the entire FSLAC committee. For that reason, I have included a copy of the 2 hour equity presentation that was shared with our Board of Trustees Tuesday night. I encourage everyone to watch it. Only people with this link can access it. https://vimeo.com/430410503/d05d91e481  

Mr. Paralovos, if you find that this presentation does not answer your questions, then perhaps you and I could have a discussion without the additional FSLAC group members. The FSLAC committee includes many staff members and trustees, who are part of this work. To those of you, who are parents and community members,  please  feel free to contact me about Equity and Inclusion and Indigenous Education work in the UGDSB at any time.

Mr. Paralvos after you have had a chance to watch the presentation, which I am confident will answer your questions below, please feel free to contact me to set up a time to meet it you have further questions.   I am available throughout July and August and can meet in person at the board office, virtually or by phone.

The UGDSB stands by its statement.

I watched the video. You can see all of my time indexed notes on it. You should pay special attention to regulation 274. It’s the regulation about hiring practices. It will come up later. I will link to the time indexed notes here for your convenience.  Also, there are MANY issues in this presentation to the board trustees. I chose 1 specific problem because I thought it was in obvious violation of the education act (169.1 a.1) but there are MANY other concerning issues that should be addressed.

After watching the video this is the response I sent back:

Hello Cheryl,

Thank you for providing the link. It is very informative.

Here it is again for easy reference.

https://vimeo.com/430410503/d05d91e481

I have watched through and made notes. I do have many more questions now than I had at the beginning of this. These are my preliminary questions that I’d like answered before we sit down to chat. So I’m fully prepared. Thank you for understanding. 

The most concerning time during the meeting is during 1:32:34 – 1:35ish when Collinda was discussing what theories the new inclusivity and equity policies were based on.  She said the following (emphasis mine):

“We’ll build a learning plan. Part of that is based on the work we’ve already been doing (over the past year).  What we want to do is make sure we’re grounding the new policies in critical race theory. And so we’ll be giving folks some training to make sure that everyone understands what the language says. 

Briefly what critical race theory was developed by lawyers. What it says is that we understand that race is a social construct. And the systems we are working in presently in education, they were specifically talking about law, but it’s the same application that because the systems were all developed by folks who were white that they are inherently racist. (in that)

I think people get really confused when we talk about racism often and defensive is that they often look at racism based on an individual. We’re not talking here about individual acts of racism because we may not see that. We may not see that. What we’re looking at is how the system itself, the overarching structures and practices and procedures and policies are racist.

If anyone has heard of Dr. Kendi he wrote a book based on critical race theory that’s called how to be an anti-racist. In the book he says that policies are never neutral. Nothing is ever neutral. It’s either explicitly anti-racist or it’s upholding white supremacy and therefore racist. Folks get confused because they think there is a middle ground for neutrality and there’s not. That’s the language that’s going to be part of the plan. Making sure folks understand that.”

I have many questions. Here they are. 

1. What theory or school of thought was our inclusion and equity policy based on prior to this new critical race theory policy being adopted?  

2. Who / what body approved critical race theory as the foundation to base the new inclusivity and equity policies on? What process did it go through to replace the old policy? I would like to contact that team if possible. Please include email to the work group. 

3. What does it mean for the board to “understand that race is a social construct?”  Please include links and as much detail as possible.

4. hat does it mean when the board says that “systems built by white people are inherently racist because they are built by white people?” To be clear, in the email I received that included the link to this meeting Cheryl’s final line is “The UGDSB stands by its statement.”

5. Further playing this statement out – Does that mean that a project completed by a white person is inherently racist because it was completed by a white person in the board’s view? What about a team of white people? How big does the product have to be before it’s racist? Is a team of white people capable of creating a non-racist / non white supremacist upholding product or is that tainted with white supremacy as well?  

6. What, in the board‘s opinion, is an acceptable number of white people working on a project before it is seen as “upholding white supremacy.” I’m wondering about both students and teachers here. Is the number the same for teams of white students as it is for white teachers or administrators in the board’s eyes or is it different? If it’s different can you provide the board’s rationale.

7. What, in the board’s opinion, is the makeup of a well balanced team to avoid upholding white supremacy in our new policies? Is this formula in place for the equity and diversity team tasked with creating these new policies? Is this formula successful at removing the upholding of white supremacy within systems that white people develop? What criteria is it measured by? Please share as much information as you can.

8. If the board believes, as stated,  that “nothing is neutral, either something is anti racist or it’s upholding white supremacy and therefore racist” (1:34:29) how does the board view lunch time? How about recess?  How are math and music lessons upholding white supremacy in the board‘s eyes specifically? How about the teachers’ break room? Is that upholding white supremacy in the board’s eyes? This is important because there is clearly no wiggle room in the board’s view.  In the next line Collinda says “Folks get confused because they think there is a middle ground for neutrality and there’s not.”  These are important questions that need answers as the timeline for implementation is September 2020.

9. This policy necessitates making hiring about skin colour and race. How is the board preparing to deal with that in the short term? If the answer is ‘training’ please see the next question.

10. What kind of training broadly will help a “white woman” (to use the speaker’s words) hire in a way that is acceptable to these new policies and to regulation 274 which mandates ‘blind’ hiring to remove bias + seniority status (1:23:25min). Please provide links to the proposed training to be used in preparing for September 2020.

11. Is it mandatory that the people doing the training be non-white? As Cheryl stated the people leading this initiative must not look like her nor like trustee Foley (1:24:06).  Is that a standard the board can set for engaging with subcontracting training? Can the ownership of the business be white, or must the business that is engaged with also be owned by POC? What about the parent company?  What board policy governs this and can you please provide me with a copy?

12. As a board of education how can you educate children with critical race theory as a starting point for policy?  At 1:03:00 Collinda states that 93% of the UGDSB staff identify as white.  I’m not sure of the exact makeup of the student population but we live in a population that is majority white. Does the board believe it is responsible to teach those children that any system that white people build is inherently racist? 

13. The stated goal of the equity and inclusivity policy is to end all forms of racism (3:20). Does the board believe critical race theory is the best available option for achieving that goal? Please provide rationale that this will be successful at ending all forms of racism and please provide alternatives considered and their reasons for removal /why they could not achieve success.

14. How can the board stand by the statement that racism is systematically rooted in our board and community without clear examples from both?  In the presentation at 1:33:30 Colinda states that we may not see individual acts of racism.  Twice.  When she talks about what racism the board is talking about she says it’s not individual acts of racism it’s systemic and gives a vague list of how the structures, practices, procedures, and policies are racist but never gives an example. At no point in the presentation is an example of systemic racism in the policies of UGDSB given. No UGDSB policy was pointed to during the meeting that was racist at all. At 1:17:00 Trustee Benny (sp?) – Asks directly “do we have any data of any kind of racism in our schools?”  The response is at 1:19:09 – “we have a little bit of anecdotal from a diversity survey that was done. We do not have a lot of substantial data on specific incidents of racism. We have suspension and expulsion data on and if there were incidents of racism or hate crimes, we have that. That stat is less than 5.  that info comes to that trustee each year.” So how can the board release a statement that claims systemic racism in every facet of Canadian systems, including the board and not have one concrete example to share with the trustees on June 16 2020?

These are the preliminary questions I have before we have our meeting. Thank you for taking the time. I appreciate that at the beginning of the meeting it was clearly stated that all voices would be heard and respected. Really looking forward to the answers. When is a good time and date for you to meet?

Thanks!

Mark

I am quite long winded sometimes. But i feel like it is important. I never got very meaningful answers to those questions. I heard in the 2 hour long meeting that they did not have any solid data backing up their claim about racism in the board at all. Here is Cheryl saying that during the June 16 meeting.

Time Index 1:19:00 And here is the working link

I sent that email on June 22nd. I followed up on June 24th.  After emailing the whole upper management team including Martha Rogers I got a response on the 27th. Here is the response:

Dear Mr. Paralovos

Thank you for taking the time to watch the presentation. 

As I stated in my original email, I am available throughout July and August and can meet in person at the board office, virtually or by phone to discuss your questions and the board’s equity plan. My next available day is Friday July 3^rd in the afternoon. Let me know if this works for you, or send me some alternative dates and times.

Cheryl

I was disappointed to not get any answers to my questions.  There were many email exchanges and the meeting was changed from one on one to 3 on one.

Here is my response

Good morning Cheryl,

Thank you for the reply. 

Next Friday would work well for me if I can have the answers to those questions before then so I have time to go through it. 

1pm is good for me but I have some flexibility in the afternoon if that doesn’t work for you.  Any time between 12:30-3 would work. 

I would prefer a virtual meeting if possible. Google hangout or whatever medium you prefer. 

Thank you very much for your time.

Hello Mr. Paralovos

Here is the link to the Equity and Inclusion tab on the board website.  https://www.ugdsb.ca/schools/safe-equitable-and-inclusive-schools/equity-and-inclusive-education/  All policies related to this work are available through this link.

I am not ignoring your questions.  I believe our time is better spent discussing the questions,  so I fully understand what you are asking and how they relate to the work being down in the UGDSB.