The Human Rights and Equity team has been directly involved with the board’s attendance and engagement strategy, a learning partnership with the Education Equity and Governance Secretariat, working alongside student advisory groups representing multiple communities in our board, developing training sessions for staff around human rights, gender equity, anti-Indigenous racism, conducting investigations as well as addressing reports of violations of Human Rights.
The Education Equity and Governance Secretariat from the Ministry of Education invited our school board to participate in learning centered on interrupting systemic racism in the 2023-24 school year. Members of our senior team including our director began a journey in building a solid foundation for our own learning in anti-oppressive practices. There are four school boards involved in the learning. Each school board then presented options for communities of practice to turn our learning into action. Our school board is committed to all three communities of practice: looking at hiring practices and interrogating how bias can impact who we hire and looking at how to interrupt and shift that practice, suspension rates and digging deeper into who is being suspended and the impacts of suspension on student achievement and investigating graduation rates and digging deeper into what barriers exist in our system that prevents students from graduating. We are looking forward to our continued work in these communities of practice and tracking the impact of our learning and actioning of our learning.
With respect to our human resources hiring practices, our next steps include a Human Resources Equity Audit. In June, we initiated a Request for Quote (RFQ) for a third-party consulting group to conduct this audit. Over the summer, we reviewed the applications and hired the Rainbow Diversity Institute to lead this work. The outcomes from this Equity Audit will support the development of our school board’s Equity Action Plan. The goal for completion of the plan is June 2026, with implementation planned for the 2026-2027 school year.
With respect to the suspension rates and digging deeper into the identities of those being suspended, we have initiated a relationship with Rubin-Tomlinson law firm to deliver investigation training for our Senior Team, Principals, and Centrally Assigned Principals. Following this training, the group will then develop modules to support all staff within KPDSB in conducting investigations. Our goal is to complete these modules by the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
With respect to the graduation rates and identifying the barriers that exist within our system, our board has developed a component within the overall Board Student Achievement Plan. This component features a multi-tiered approach as well as some Focus Schools to track our intentional work.
I continue to work alongside the Human Resources department in developing and supporting investigations. If an investigation is connected to Human Rights and involves one of the protected grounds, I take the lead on that investigation. If an investigation could be connected to human rights, I act in a supporting role and may later be referred to the case as the lead.
I also continue to support staff through training and consultation when incidents arise. I find that staff are beginning to feel more comfortable consulting me for advice, and I appreciate the referrals from school leadership. I hope to continue supporting the school board in this specific capacity.
I am looking forward to continuing growing my role as the human rights and equity advisor and most importantly modelling centering student voice and families to continue to guide my work.
