We all know the often misquoted reference to “those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it.” Some think it was said by a Roman philosopher, Napoleon Bonaparte or Winston Churchill. Well, it was 19th century philosopher and essayist George Santayana in his Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of his The Life of Reason.  Apparently his actual words were:”Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it.”

Therefore, I think the Toronto District School Board’s decision last Thursday night to approve the development of a curriculum for a Grade 11 course on genocide and crimes against humanity in the 20th and 21st centuries was a good idea. As Natalie Alcoba of the National Post reported in Thursday’s paper it ”delves into examples of genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries, including the Holocaust, Armenia and Rwanda.” She also wrote a related column in Friday’s paper entitled “Genocide Course Sparks Contoversy in Toronto.”

In it she reported:

“The committee of Toronto District School Board officials and university academics that reviewed the complaints insists that politics has no place in this debate. ‘Disagreeing about the appropriateness of the label of genocide is not the same as denying that the killings occurred,’ committee members said in a report that was submitted to Toronto school trustees. ‘Genuine historical controversies do belong in a high school curriculum and can be beneficial in giving students an in-depth understanding of complex events and in teaching students critical thinking.’”

I agree. Not only that, the course will be very relevant for the here and now because “Students will examine identity formation and how ‘in groups’ and ‘out groups’ are created, including an analysis of how bias, stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination impact on various groups.” That will make it real because even in individual classrooms and schools, such groups exist.

While I have been critical of the TDSB on previous occasions, I think officials and trustees were right to make this decision. These various genocides happened within the last hundred years or in Rwanda’s case, likely in the Toronto students’ own lifetime. And, while current regimes may not like it (e.g., Turkey), the only way we can honour the memory of those who lost their lives is to talk openly about these historical events. In fact, to deny the various genocides will continue to dishonour the dead.

Although additional crimes against humanity may be added to this curriculum, such as the Ukrainian famine of the 1930’s, the bottom line is that a Grade 11 history curriculum on modern day genocide is a good idea for all the right reasons. 

To paraphrase Santayana once again: Unless students are told about historical crimes against humanity, there is always the chance that new generations will repeat them.

C/P at Jack’s Newswatch.

During the past month we have been hearing about Toronto Catholic Board trustees and how they have over spent on their expenses by thousands and thousands of dollars. Now, Moira MacDonald of the Toronto Sun reports that things got so bad in Nova Scotia this week that a school board had to be taken over by the provincial government. Here is what MacDonald writes about that situation:

“In Nova Scotia this week the 12 trustees at the Strait Regional School Board — overseeing schools in Cape Breton Island and the northeastern part of the mainland — were turfed by Nova Scotia’s Conservative government for failing to get along and meet new ethical standards.”

Are we Canadians paying so much attention to federal politics that we are missing allegations of overspending and ineffectiveness at the thousands of boards of education across this country? What is even more of a concern is that it is a well documented fact that in some communities, few people actually vote in municipal elections.  For example, turnout can range from a low of 10% to a high of 76%.

Another phenomenon I noticed during the last municipal elections in Ontario, which may be at the root of this problem, was that trustees seemed to get re-elected, not on the basis of their record, but on name recognition alone.  In fact, I spoke to someone who ran for the first time and she admitted it is almost impossible for a new candidate to get elected. This doesn’t make sense, does it? We keep voting the same people in election after election without knowing whether they were effective or not.  

Clearly, something is going to have to be done about this situation and awareness is a good start.  

[...]

Earlier this week I wrote about how the Toronto District School Board “safety” report that was very short on specifics. Now, today, a Toronto Sun editorial tells it like it is. The board administration and trustees are in complete denial about the problem in Toronto’s schools. And, if they don’t face reality, the situation is going to get far worse. As the Sun writes:

“Four months ago, the Toronto District School Board paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for a report on school violence following the shooting death of 15 year-old Jordan Manners inside C.W. Jeffery’s Collegiate. Jordan died a year ago, tomorrow. The task force that produced that report, headed by civil rights lawyer, Julian Falconer, described a board where a ‘culture of fear and silence’ about school violence had taken hold at every level….These poisonous attitudes flowed down through board bureaucrats to superintendents, principals, teachers and students….How could we have gone from that to the board’s non-response to Falconer’s report this week — essentially a plea for provincial funding for more social and support workers — is but predictable.”

This is all about political correctness gone to the extreme, where everyone involved is afraid to say they have some criminal elements and thugs in their schools and that these thugs do not need a social worker, they need some consequences to their actions. Moreover, those who are causing the problems do not need to be told the “system is failing them.” They need to feel the consequences of their actions by taking full responsibility for what they do. In other words, the TDSB has to do whatever is necessary to stop allowing the rights of the perpetrators to take precedence over the young people who are being bullyied and assaulted.

In addition, people have to stop calling people racists just because they disagree about what the problem is or if they want to deal with the problem realistically. Maybe metal detectors or security personnel in a school, even for a short time, would not be such a bad thing if they discouraged crime. Futhermore, while social workers can help the next generation of children, the TDSB has to deal with the NOW as well. And, whatever is done should not be about TDSB image. It should be about student safety.

However, given how entrenched this political correctness is, I suspect that until it is faced and dealt with, Toronto schools are simply not going to be safe for anyone, least of all the students.

H/T to Joanne (Blue Like You).

Rob Roberts of the National Post has published a column this evening explaining that the Toronto District School Board’s safe schools report introduced today at a press conference will be considered at tomorrow night’s board meeting.  He describes the TDSB report itself, which is titled “On the Road to Health,” as “drowning in an ocean of platitudes.” For example, officials at the press conference said the report was on “safe, caring and inclusive schools.”  

Now, I have heard edu-babble before, but rarely with regard to something so deadly serious. They are dealing with violence, honest to goodness violence – rapes, stabbings and shootings. Yet, the board report is referring to inclusivity and programs to teach students to to be nice to each other.  On that point, board chair John Campbell says: “I know you’re looking for hard things. But I think we have to change the soft things.”

Soft things? No wonder the aunt of Jordan Manners, Louisa Manners, a teacher herself, shouted at the presenters today: “What role or what input has the family had in this plan? Has anyone gone to my sister, her children, myself? What role as an educator can I play in making our schools more safe?” What do those questions say about this so-called “leadership action team report” when the family of a murder victim has not been consulted? 

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Why do we have elected trustees on school boards at the municipal level? We have them to oversee the education and well being of children and youth living in a specific municipality — representing both public and separate (Catholic) rate payers. And, key in that role of overseer is making sure money is spent wisely and appropriately.

While we frequently like to say that elected officials should spend public money as if it were their own — we don’t mean that literally. Yet, when we hear the “average” amount allocated to some Toronto trustees last year was $107,218, what are we, the public, supposed to think?

Well, clearly, the school board trustees that took that amount of money out of a school board budget thought they were “entitled” to it. That board is the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). And, as the Toronto Sun editorial says today the Education Minister will have to take over this board and appoint a provincial supervisor in order ”to restore fiscal sanity.” 

What is especially unfortunate with this type of “collective failure” is that it silences the competent trustee voices in the confusion. How very frustrating it must be to be a hard working and effective trustee on that board, such as John Del Grande, who the Sun says filed 21 motions proposing various reforms.

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While there are definitely some Toronto parents and public school supporters who agree with the notion of an Africentric program from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12, the speed at which Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees and members of its “advisory panel” are putting forward and approving proposals is clearly political. 

For example, today’s Toronto Star editorial comment states:

“Bureaucrats at the Toronto public school board have barely begun the effort of launching an Africentric elementary school this coming fall. But now some trustees are calling for an Africentric high school to open just one year later.”

So, however well intentioned, some TDSB trustees are making recommendations for an Africentric high school without adequate “action research” and feedback on the pilot elementary program slated for Sheppard Public School in September of this year.  As such, in their unseemly haste, the needs of the students seem to have been forgotten or minimized.

Moreover, since the pilot project at Sheppard is to be a JK - Grade 5 “school within a school,” what has happened to the intermediate Grades 6 - 8?  Are students aged 11 to 13 supposed to be included with the high school aged youth? That would be a big mistake and a recipe for bullying.

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Reality check. How many school boards in Ontario, or even across Canada, have swimming pools in as many as 78 schools? My guess is that most boards have one or maybe two based on population statistics. Yet, some parents and students within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) are apparently outraged that the board wants to close 23 of these pools – a relatively small number overall.

The community reaction and feeling of entitlement is actually quite breathtaking.  For example, as Brian Gray writes in today’s Toronto Sun, the TDSB is going without 160 teachers just to pay for those pools. Not only that, the board uses up to one half of the $81 million the province hands over for ESL. 

Yet, as Gray reports: “A committee of Toronto public school trustees recommended the full board vote to close 23 pools this spring and layoff 32 instructors despite a strong showing from parents and students imploring them not to take the plunge.”

That was in spite of the fact that: “Board chairman, John Campbell, said …the board is facing a $75-million deficit next year, a gap the empty pools will only help close.”

“Campbell [also] said during the meeting of the board’s planning and priority committee [that] the 23 decommissioned pools would save the board $4.6 million a year.”

Some history.

Up to the late 1990’s Toronto was a “negative grant board” as far as education was concerned. It had a huge tax base and was allowed to keep every penny collected in education taxes. In other words, schools across the province were only as good as their municipality’s tax base. As a result, there were many areas of the province that were considered poor — particularly in Northern Ontario.
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Here is yet another voice against the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) decision to approve an Africentric or black-focused school in September 2009. Read Michele Mandel’s Toronto Sun column, dated February 25th, about a very successful black woman by the name of Ms. Brenya Griffin Vinson. She is against the decision because it is an artificial setting that, while comfortable, is not real.

Griffin Vinson’s story is important for several reasons. First, she grew up in the Jane Finch area of Toronto and knows first-hand what it is like to experience poverty, racism and discrimination. Second, she attended a black-focused or Africentric school early in her life and completely understands the comfort and unreality of such an environment. Third, a middle school guidance counsellor (who happened to be Jewish and white) taught her that what really counted in her life was not necessarily an Africentric curriculum or all-black teachers. Rather, “what matters is if they [the teachers] show compassion and understanding.” And fourth, she completely disagrees with the current plan to open an Africentric high school in the city where she grew up.

In her own words, here is why Griffin Vinson disagrees:

“I don’t think it’s a good idea because they haven’t tried everything else yet.”

“Afrocentric studies are not going to help us in our multicultural society. What happens after? In the real world, are you allowed to choose who your co-workers are and who your boss is? Are we setting up a false illusion of comfort?”

“Without compassion, understanding and patience — these youth will not be reached. These traits are not Afrocentric. I think we can empower our kids from within.”

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Not long ago I posted articles here on what makes an excellent school and a successful principal. I also published my disagreement with the Toronto District School Board decision to fund an Africentric black-focused school. This post will deal with an excellence piece in the Toronto Star. Written by Kristen Rushowy, it is about the new principal at C.W. Jeffreys high school in Toronto.

Well, when I read the Kaplan article, I was struck how much the new principal at C.W. Jeffreys, Jim Spyropoulos, seemed to meet the criteria of what makes a school and principal excellent. A difficult situation for anyone, C.W. Jeffreys is a high school of 890 students and where young Jordan Manners was shot and killed in May of 2007. Yet Spyropoulos takes it all in stride.  Obviously, the right kind of leader in the right place at the right time.

And, what exactly does Spyropoulos do? He apparently is just himself, greeting students with “How you doing, man, you good?”  In fact, he greets all the students at the main door in the morning and says goodbye to them in the same spot at the end of the day. He continually walks the halls, directing traffic, speaking to students as he goes. On one of those walks one young girl with a Muslim head scarf shouts “Mister, will you come to our class today and see what we made?” “Definitely girls, of course I’ll be there.” And, later in the day, he IS there.
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You can always count on former Ontario MPP John Snobelen to tell it like he sees it. When I was the EA and Communications Advisor for an Ontario MPP during the first Mike Harris mandate, my boss was one of Snobelen’s Parliamentary Assistants when he was Education Minister.  Although he would not likely remember me, I sure remember him. Efficient and effective certainly describe him in spite of what rank and file educators thought of him. 

A couple of weeks ago he mentioned in one of his columns that he hated photo ops and one stood out in his mind — when he and his two parliamentary assistant colleagues pushed a wheel barrow full of reports for the television cameras.

Well, guess what? I was one of the staff who filled up that wheel barrow. I am not sure who thought up the idea but it really was silly. I really laughed when he wrote about it because he really was annoyed at the whole thing and thought it was a waste of time. Yet, even though the media knew it was a set-up, they loved it.
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