Teacher in Blackface ignites investigation by TDSB and online petition for action

BY PAUL JUNOR

There is nothing that could have prepared the staff and students at Parkdale Collegiate Institute for the sight of a Grade 9 business teacher in Blackface.

On Friday, October 29^th, 2021, many students were shocked when a teacher wore a Blackface as a Halloween costume. Students, staff and parents were horrified when they heard about the incident.

Maya, a student at P.C.I shared, “I heard about it right away. I was shocked, especially because it was Parkdale. It’s very multicultural here.” Another Grade 12 student expressed disbelief. He states, “What was he thinking, really is my question. I can’t even fathom what was going through his mind that morning getting ready and coming to school like that.”

An unidentified student states, “I feel like it was very traumatizing for students. We go to a diverse school and he’s an adult. Why would you come to school full of teenagers that are all people of colour? Why would you come here and think this is a good idea? I’m going to just come in with black paint all over my face. It was totally traumatizing for a lot of students of colour.”

A student told CityNews, “Honestly, I don’t know what was going through his head. I don’t think he thought it through. He told students he was a zombie, but I have never seen a zombie like that.”

Leila Spranger, a concerned parent, expressed her displeasure at the TDSB. She states, “This is connected to what the TDSB has identified as deeply entrenched anti-Black racism in the school board. This is about the culture of how our schools are operated.”

In response to the trauma and pain that students felt because of this incident, the school has made counselling available for those students who want to talk about it. Julie Ardell, principal of P.C.I wrote a letter to parents in response to this incident. It reads, “Caricatures of people’s race of culture are not appropriate and are offensive and hurtful. Regardless of whether this was intended or not, it was racist and dehumanizing.”

She states that she became aware of the teacher in Blackface when a student brought it to the vice-principal attention. In addition, she wrote, “Anti-Black racism, including all forms of discrimination contravene our school code of conduct and multiple TDSB policies. I would like to thank the students who came forward to identify this to staff. They did the right thing.”

The TDSB decided to launch an investigation into this incident and the teacher was sent home to await the result of the board’s investigation. Colleen Isacc Russel, Director of the TDSB released a statement to staff on Wednesday, November 3^rd, 2021, which read,

“I am writing to you directly about inclusion and anti-oppression with a sense of frustration and outrage as we address another egregious incident of racism. The most recent incident took place at P.C.I on Friday, where a staff member appeared in Blackface during the school day, ostensibly to mark the occasion of Halloween. Far from a fun and joyful celebration for students on this occasion, this disrespectful and highly offensive act brought pain and harm and served as a grim reminder of how much racism and oppression we have yet to defeat in the TDSB through both collective and individual actions.”

Subsequently, Cathy Gatlin started an online petition “Anti Black Racism at Parkdale C.I”  It states, “This is not a one-time incident. As parents, many of us have witnessed overt and micro-racial aggressions toward our children. This incident, however, is severe, shocking and concerning.”  The petition continues, “We therefore make the following recommendations to ensure safety in our classrooms, but this is by no means an exhaustive list.” This includes the following:

• Zero tolerance policy for hate and discrimination
• Create a safe, supportive and anonymous complaints mechanism that is supportive of students and grounded in principles of anti-oppression so as not to become a ‘snitch line’
• Public reporting on complaints of discrimination and racism
• Hiring practices that are: transparent, equitable and seek to diversify the workforce. Actively hiring for trauma-informed, strengths-based and anti-oppressive teaching practices and skill sets
• On-going and frequent professional development in the areas of ant-Black racism, anti-colonialism, anti-oppression and building in accountability through regular and rigorous performance appraisals

As of Saturday, November 13^th, 2021, there were 3,489 signatures of the petition which had an intended target of 5,000. In addition, a rally titled “Rally Parkdale Against Anti- Black Racism,” was held on Saturday at the school location at 209 Jameson Avenue.