Despite Halton District School Board providing a draft policy on what teachers can wear on the job, executives say they can only enforce existing standards due to ongoing labour discussions.
The revelation came during a board meeting Wednesday attended by parents, community members and other stakeholders concerned about the status of the policy on dress and standards in the classroom.
A draft of the recommendations went out a few days ago, but it’s been made clear the draft lacks specifics because the board says it cannot change working and employment conditions while it’s negotiating contracts with teachers’ unions.
Ontario teachers have been without a contract since August.
“What prevents us from creating new procedures is the very fact that collective agreements have not been renewed,” superintendent of human resources Sari Taha explained to board members.
“So if we are to create a procedure that defines professionalism as something entirely different than what exists today … then we will be prevented from doing that.”
The “professionalism policy,” outlining requirements to maintain standards of dress and decorum in the classroom, is in answer to an ongoing matter at an Oakville high school spurred on by a teacher who made international headlines for wearing large prosthetic breasts to class.
That teacher, a worker at Oakville Trafalgar High School, has since been placed on a paid leave.
Taha characterized the process of creating the professionalism policy as “complicated,” suggesting the board could only use “existing mechanics” available.
His presentation Wednesday night attempted to define the consolidation of various current statutes and regulations that could be blended into a new procedure on professionalism.
That draft uses existing provisions in HDSB policy as well as similar guidelines set out by the Ontario College of Teachers and Ministry of Education.
However, several trustees appeared to have trouble wrapping their heads around the concept.
Director of education Curtis Ennis suggested the confusion was over the “delineation between policies and procedures.”
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“So if there are policies that are in place that aren’t new, procedures are put in place to follow the policies or to enact the policies,” meeting chair and Ward 4 trustee Margo Shuttleworth said.
“So if we don’t have procedures to enact the policies, why would the policies be there?”
An electronic survey seeking public perception and to seek clarity on the current draft has been out since Feb. 24.
The overall consultation process will continue to receive feedback up to and including March 10, 2023.
It’s expected staff will finish compiling community responses for further recommendations with a potential final policy draft sometime closer to an April board meeting.
The HDSB employs over 10,000 staff including but not limited to teachers and education workers.
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