The Ontario Ministry of Education policy program memoranda,
school board policy, and what is actually taking place at the ground level are identifiable
separate matters. There is a huge
difference between law and policy.
Legislation is only as good as those who enforce it. Current safe schools legislation is a good example. There is no real-time enforcement of Keeping our Kids Safe at School Act and
the Accepting Schools Act. It is the very reason parents are turning toward
our judicial system for resolve.
“The main difference between a law and a policy are who
can create them and who can enforce them.
A law is legally enforceable by the judicial system and is created at
the provincial and federal levels. A
policy provides a set of rules or guidelines that are meant to guide behaviour or practices and are enforceable
by the body that created it, rather than the judicial system”……in this case,
our school boards.
Policies are also created in response to legislation. Ontario safe schools legislation requires that
each school have a safe and accepting school team in place. This is confirmed by way of Program Policy Memorandum
No. 144 as follows:
“Each school must
have in place a safe and accepting schools team responsible for fostering a safe,
inclusive, and accepting school climate……”
I have been told that “It is the expectation that all schools have
a safe schools team in place. There was
no requirement to report this and therefore there is no record.” The mandate must in PPM 144 now becomes redundant because it omitted to
state that the implementation of safe
and accepting school teams must be reported. How convenient.
Further, “the safe
and accepting schools team is responsible for creating a climate where bullying
has no place, yet they are not responsible for responding to incidents.”
AND the best of all…..”school
boards are not required to track incidents of bullying.”
Are school boards choosing to ignore the serious issue of bullying or choosing to deal with the issue head on? Is the government that created and promoted our
safe schools legislation as the first of its kind in Canada trying to appear as
if they have done their due diligence?
A York Region District School Board trustee once told me to
“trust your school board to do the right thing”. I waited 3 years for that to happen. It is not an action that represents
accountability or transparency.
As mentioned earlier, there is a huge difference between
law and policy. Neither should be ignored and both should be dealt
with.
