An ethical fix to TDSB error
And why you should care
Welcome to At The End Of the Day! So glad to be back in your inbox.
The weirdest school lottery ever
It’s rare that I’m struck by complete indecision. I move fast, make decisions quickly and I usually have an opinion on everything.
But recently, our family got a note from our children’s school board that had me at a complete loss.
My eldest child will be going into grade seven in the fall. He told us that he wanted to go to an alternative public school in September. The school values enriched academics and experiential learning. I had never heard of it.
So our family went to a hot, crowded open house that showed the demand would clearly far outstrip supply. There are only 56 students in the entire school, which runs for grades seven and eight, and yet there were hundreds of people in that school gym, so many I could barely hear or see the people presenting at the front.
My husband filled out the application. It included questions on whether you belong to a historically underrepresented group. We ticked the box for Asian.
In early March, while I was away on a work trip, my son called me distraught. He found out that his closest friends had gotten in but he hadn’t. This had been his worst fear. Listening to his 11-year-old grief that night really broke my heart. Ultimately, I know he will be absolutely fine in September, wherever he goes. But on the phone that night, I didn’t say that. I just listened sympathetically.
In early April, a month after kids learned whether they were accepted or not, we got an email from the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). It went to everyone who had applied to any of the 17 alternative elementary schools in the system.
And then my phone started going off: Had I seen the email?
Turns out, the selection process was botched. In an attempt to make admissions equitable, the TDSB had switched from the application process of previous years to a randomized lottery system. Here’s how it was supposed to go:
Indigenous students and siblings of current students have priority
25 per cent of spots would go to randomly selected students who are from underrepresented communities (Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latinx, 2SLGBTQIA+, students with disabilities)
Remaining spots would go to randomly selected students from the entire pool of applicants
The first two steps were correctly followed. The third was not. Students who had ticked boxes (let’s call them List B) were accidentally excluded from this pool of applicants. This means that students who had self-identified as racialized, queer or having a disability were excluded from up to 75 per cent of the spaces.
Read that sentence again to make sure you’ve got it right.
Put another way, only students who see themselves as white, straight and without disabilities secured up to 75 per cent of the spaces. In a city where over 65% of the population age 16 and under are racialized.
I was stunned. I felt insulted by the email, which felt deliberately opaque and didn’t include an apology, which is why the tone didn’t make sense. Why did it take a bunch of parents on a text chain to make sense of one email? Nowhere did it mention the words “mistake” or “error.” Instead, it mentioned a “computerized” system and “a third-party vendor” handling the lottery, as if those factors mitigate the gravity of the situation. They don’t.
Once I understood, I was furious. This process had actively excluded children whose families voluntarily disclosed that they identify as something other than the powerful norm.
What’s the fix?
The day after the email was sent to parents, the story was in the papers. Many parents were calling for a redo of the lottery. Currently, a group of parents plan to take legal action against the TDSB if they don’t redo the lottery by April 19 (that’s next Wednesday).
There’s very little clarity on what the TDSB will do. They sent a follow-up email to everyone who applied (whether they were accepted or not), including an apology and floating the suggestion of prioritizing kids from List B into 89 unclaimed spots among the 17 schools.
I still have questions:
Who is the third-party vendor?
How was that vendor chosen?
How did the TDSB arrive at the number of 25 per cent spaces for racialized LGBTQ+ and children with disabilities?
Who is responsible for this at the TDSB?
What will they do to rectify the current situation? (While they mentioned 89 unclaimed spots, there isn’t any commitment to it or further detail)
How will they ensure this will never happen again?
Canada’s largest school board bears a responsibility to be a leader in education and equity. Sending two emails isn’t gonna cut it.
What is a parent supposed to do?
I hope it doesn’t sound strange, but I was angrier about the systemic failures than my own child not getting into the school of his choice. I love my children fiercely and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them (this goes without saying, right?). But while I believe a specialized, small school with individual attention would be great, I really believe my own child can thrive in any caring classroom.
I don’t want to shop within a public system. After listening to Nice White Parents (a podcast from the New York Times) about segregation in the New York City school system and how well-meaning white parents wield advocacy power that unintentionally maintains status quo power structures, I began to think twice about what might seem simple. Fundraising. Advocacy. Letter writing campaigns. Where does my power begin and end? And how does it have impact over time?
I’m a big believer in public education even if the practice of it is imperfect.
In this case, I didn’t know how to advocate. I didn’t want to fight tooth and nail to get my kid into a specialized class when what I truly want is for all classrooms to have these alternative values – to value kids and their curiosity and recognize that learning doesn’t mean standardized testing and grades.
I felt confused about my own responsibility as a citizen of this city, a parent, and potentially, an advocate.
This is where I call an expert
I know what I am – a devoted parent and a newsletter-writer, snacking as I write in jogging pants. I know what I’m not—an expert in education and ethics and equity.
So I looked one up.
John Portelli is a professor at the Ontario Insitutue for Studies in Education at University of Toronto. John started as a school teacher in 1975 in Malta, starting to teach in Canada in 1982 . He has taught in all levels— primary, secondary, community college and at three different Canadian universities.
I sent him the news stories. And he was very clear in his response:
“The right thing to do is to do it all over again.” He believes in redoing the lottery, or at least any part of the process that did not go according to plan.
“When there is a competition, there are procedures that are identified before the entire process starts. Whoever applies, and whoever is running the competition, has the responsibility to follow the rules. In this case, they admitted that something went wrong on their part. The procedure was not followed according to the agreement. And therefore it has to be corrected.”
And what about the 89 unclaimed spots that the TDSB says they will give to List B? Is that a fair follow-up?
“If there are spots, it’s a good gesture on their part, they are showing a sense of goodwill. But giving you a school 15 km away is not giving you a school which is three km away. Now of course, if the competition starts all over again, you may still be left out because of the element of chance,” he said, speaking about me and my child’s personal stake in the lottery. “But technically, the right thing to do is to do it all over again.”
Redoing even part of the lottery would mean that some children who have been accepted would lose their spots while others gain spots.
While we don’t even know if the TDSB considers this a possibility, I appreciated John’s ethics and equity POV so much.
This isn’t a niche issue
If you look at the number of parents who are trying to get their kids into an alternative school with a grade seven start this fall, yes, that may seem niche. But it isn’t.
That’s a customer service lens. I don’t need customer service. I’m a parent but it’s not about me. Schools are supposed to serve children, all children, and the people who work in them— teachers and support staff. Period.
While public education isn’t a perfect system, it is a cornerstone of a functioning democracy.
And if all you care about is a bottom line, there is no better way to enrich your society, literally and figuratively, than to give all kids an education that teaches them how to be great human beings who can fix problems and take care of each other.
I can’t imagine a more important issue than this, which is about doing the messy work of trying to rebalance systemic discrimination with equitable practices. If that isn’t where we are paying attention, I don’t know what we’re doing in 2023.
So I wrote this newsletter today. Not as an angry parent, because I don’t actually believe being an angry parent is what’s most deserving of the TDSB’s time and attention. And I don’t even feel strongly about my son getting into this alternative school.
The reason I wrote this is to quote the best expert I could find on this topic because I believe an ethical framework is what we need. If the TDSB can’t figure it out, here is someone who has figured it out for them.
And if they won’t listen to angry parents, they can listen to an expert.
I’m so glad I found John because we had a truly lovely chat. When I I reached out to him, I said I had only two simple questions (“What should the TDSB do? What should parents advocate for?”) but by the end of our conversation, I confessed that I am conflicted about the larger issue of picking and choosing from specialized schools within public school systems, which I wish could be more of an even playing field.
John got very real with me.
“My view is very clear,” he said. “We have very strong evidence to show us that mainstream schooling has not worked. If we believe in social justice and equity and democratic values, then we have to admit that public mainstream schooling has not worked for people that have traditionally been marginalized. Therefore, what I’d like to see is that mainstream schooling becomes all alternative schooling, with very strong beliefs and practices of equity and social justice. People say to me, ‘But we should have a choice.’ I tell them, ‘What is the implication of that question?’”
Mic drop.
“Ideally the mainstream school needs to be an alternative school,” he said.
It was a relief to hear this. And of course, disappointing to know it isn’t the reality.
“As a white, European, Christian male, I believe there are good ethical reasons for affirmative action. Given the history of Canada, this kind of affirmative action is fully justified. Some of my friends say, ‘It will not favour white, Christian people like yourself!’ But ethics is not about favouring, ethics is a matter of doing what is the proper thing to do.”
Redo the lottery. It’s not about my kid getting in. It’s about everyone understanding what just happened. It wasn’t okay and we shouldn’t keep going along like it is.
If you feel strongly about this, please get in touch with the TDSB and your school trustee
Thank you for reading,
Hannah
✨✨✨At The End Of the Day is edited by Laura Hensley✨✨✨
Further Reading
‘I’m angry’: Parents in disbelief as TDSB error excludes racialized, disabled, LGBTQ students from alternative school lottery, Toronto Star. I shared an email I wrote to the TDSB with this reporter.
Parents seek legal action against TDSB over alternative-school lottery, Globe and Mail
Nice White Parents podcast from the New York Times. This is not a podcast about public education in Canada. It’s specifically about public schools in New York City. But it is 100% worth a listen if you care about schools, advocacy and equity.
What I’ve been up to
It has been a very busy time with Media Girlfriends. We have pumped out two new podcasts and we’re very proud of them.
Listen to our latest podcast for the Samara Centre for Democracy.
Hear politicians tell true stories of their lived experience. It may change how you think about politics.
Follow our new podcast for the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
Join Nana aba Duncan of Media Girlfriends to learn about how you can help when someone in your own life is experiencing abuse.
And now for some super-fine print!
I’m moving! I was publishing this newsletter on Substack but now it’s on my own website at endoftheday.ca. I’m still in the midst of switching over.
Do people bookmark sites? I have no idea, but if that’s what you’re doing, please change it! I know it’s a newsletter so that isn’t relevant to 99 per cent of you but I did *an admin thing today* please applaud.
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