Ontario School Board Updates Language to be More Inclusive by Removing Reference to ‘Parents’
An Ontario School board is changing the word “parent” to family or caregiver in its policy documents to be “more inclusive,” and said they were working on an updated list of lexicon for the board.
Policies about supporting students with medical conditions, communications, and fundraising had the terms parents and legal guardians removed and replaced with families and caregivers.
A board policy on extreme temperatures, which had no previous mention of parent or legal guardian, had the terms families and caregivers added.
During the discussion, trustee Cindy Watson questioned the need to change the terms, saying families and caregivers seemed too broad.
“I’m just not sure why we don’t want to say the word parent,” she said.
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“I’m quite embarrassed that we don’t want to say parent or even legal guardian.”
Trustee Kathleen Woodcock explained they were looking for more inclusive language. She explained that there was a list of terms and definitions that were being developed.
“This lexicon is forthcoming, we just haven’t finished it,” Ms. Woodcock said.
“We’re looking to modernize the language, make it more inclusive, and make sure that all our policies have the same language according to our developing lexicon.”
A question was raised regarding whether the board could make such a change as it conflicted with provincial legislative practice.
“We have not had any concerns utilizing this language as it results in our day-to-day operations,” associate director Graham Shantz responded.
“Families include parents, but not every student is being raised by their parent,” trustee Scott Piatkowski said.
“We need to recognize that there are different kinds of families, and family and caregivers includes traditional parent relationships and it includes other forms of caregivers.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the board and the Ontario minister of dducation but did not hear back by publication time.
Concerns Over Woke Ideology at WRDSB
It’s not the first time WRDSB trustees have clashed over ideological issues.
In January 2022, the board restricted a presentation by then-teacher Carolyn Burjoski. Ms. Burjoski was sharing concerns over the age-appropriateness of the content of some children’s library books that discuss gender identity and transition.
Ms. Burjoski expressed concern about books available in elementary school libraries that made it “seem simple or even cool [to] take puberty [blockers] or opposite sex hormones,” according to court documents filed in Ms. Burjoski’s lawsuit for judicial review, which was denied by Ontario’s Divisional Court on Nov. 29.
During the meeting, board chair Scott Piatkowski stopped her, saying she may be violating Ontario’s Human Rights Code.
Trustee Mike Ramsay has also questioned a recent code of conduct complaint against him, something he says is driven by a “radical left NDP group of trustees.”
Mr. Ramsay said there was “no merit to this latest complaint” but that there were some trustees on the board who “simply [refuse] to accept the results of the October 2022 election,” which saw Mr. Ramsay return to his role as trustee for another term.
Marnie Cathcart contributed to this report.
