Peel District School Board addresses the lack of representation in challenging and competitive programs

BY PAUL JUNOR

Peel District School Board (PDSB) announced on Tuesday, November 10thh, 2020 that it would be changing the criteria for its speciality programs. This change will ensure that qualified black, Africans, Metis, First Nations and Inuit students in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon will gain automatic admission. This will guarantee that they bypass the random selection process and gain immediate acceptance into these elite academic programs.

This change in the admission criteria is meant to address the significant lack of representation of black and racialized students in these academically challenging and competitive programs. Peel District School Board (PDSB) decided to be proactive in the face of on-going criticism of its inability to deal with issues of systematic racism, especially anti-black racism in its schools. Colleen-Russel Rawlins, interim director of PDSB, informed trustees on these changes at the board meeting on Tuesday, November 9th, 2020.

The board released data on Tuesday, which highlights the lack of representation of black, Indigenous, and people of colour in these programs. The newspaper Caledon Enterprise reported on Wednesday, November 11th, some of the troubling data. Approximately 10% of 41,705 secondary school students are black. They constitute less than 2% of the students admitted to the Regional Learning Choices Program (RLCP).

There are less than ten black students in these programs. The recognized International Baccalaureate (IB) program takes in about 2020 students per year where students pursue advanced courses in: science, technology, arts and music. Less than 50% of the students are of South Asian background. There are approximately 55 black students in RLCP courses, they are concentrated in: sports, dance, music or visual arts.

The numbers are even more disturbing for Indigenous students. There are questions raised about whether these low numbers could be due to their lack of self-identification as First Nations, Metis and/or Inuits (as revealed by the PDSB’s 2018 census data). The board hopes that by changing the admission criteria it will signal its intentions to reverse the numbers and provide access to these high-achieving programs.

Charlie Grant, co-founder of Parents of Black Children (PoBC), which has engaged in advocacy work with different boards welcome the move. “Our children have always had the capacity and capability, but they were deliberately denied and held back. They weren’t given the opportunity. These opportunities will level the playing field.”

Danielle Dowdy, parent and community advocate is supportive of these changes. She states that they are, “Important first step in breaking down the barriers to access. The second step is communication.”

Interim director, Colleen Russel-Rawlins states, “We can’t fulfil our mission to inspire success, confidence and hope in each student until we take real and meaningful steps to provide access to students who have been excluded. We are ensuring our programs are open to these students who have historically not been able to participate.”

While the change is procedural with respect to how administers select students into these specialized programs, there is hope, expectation and anticipation that it will fundamentally be equitable and fair.