York Region District School Board (YRDSB) is apologizing to the community and a teacher for mishandling a case of anti-Black racism.
In a message posted online, YRDSB education director Louise Sirisko said, without naming the employee, "We know incidents of anti-Black racism cause hurt, and we have to respond even to those that originate outside our organization. We are sorry for the hurt and harm caused by this incident of anti-Black racism and the delay in alerting the employee."
The apology comes two months after the school board reported to York Regional Police that a newspaper clipping about one of their teachers had been defaced with racist slurs and sent by mail.
“We immediately contacted York Regional Police and provided the evidence. We should have immediately contacted that employee, however, it took us a week to do so and our outreach followed the contact to the employee made by YRP,” Sirisko writes.
Claudette Rutherford, a social sciences teacher and co-founder of Parents of Black Children, came forward as the subject of the hate mail following the incident and said it showed proper processes and tool were not in place for families and staff to feel supported by the education system.
Please see this message from @YRDSBDirector Sirisko, regarding hate mail received by YRDSB. https://t.co/JpX45aTQrg
— York Region DSB (@YRDSB) May 25, 2021
According to Sirisko, herself and other senior staff have been the target of similar hate mail and clippings about the board's anti-racism work for about four years, all of which have been reported to police.
The board is now finalizing a protocol for addressing these situations but “We hope never to have to use it,” Sirisko said.
“We know our employees, students and families expect us to react sooner and to centre our actions on supporting victims of hate,” she said. “We have those expectations for ourselves too, we’re sorry we did not meet them this time.”
