Hamilton’s public school board trustees want to see more detailed data released on student expulsions and suspensions.
They unanimously approved a motion to have staff come back with a report that sheds more light on who is involved in those incidents out of concerns that marginalized students are being disproportionately impacted.
Ward 2 trustee Sabreina Dahab brought forward the motion asking for the data, telling Global News Radio’s Good Morning Hamilton that it’s important to know why these suspensions and expulsions are happening.
“We know that the OHRC, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, has told us that there are disproportionate impacts of discipline policies across this province,” said Dahab.
“When multiple larger school boards across this province, including Ottawa, Carleton District School Board, Peel and Toronto, all conducted similar reviews of their discipline policies, they’ve also cited disproportionate impacts on Black and disabled youth in our schools. And this tracks with what I’m hearing from constituents.”
The motion asks specifically for more information about which grade a student is in, whether they’re at a high-priority school or have a special education status, and the gender of the student involved.
Trustees heard from several delegates at Monday’s board meeting who were calling for more transparency regarding expulsions and suspensions, including Eisham Karim.
He said he’s been a leader in the city’s Muslim community for nearly a decade and recently met with the father of a young boy who is an immigrant and an HWDSB student.
“His father revealed to me that his son no longer wishes to attend school due to frequent suspensions, and this father informed me later on that his son was not being heard or offered any translation or translators during a suspension meeting,” said Karim.
He said this isn’t an isolated case.
“Parents in my community are apprehensive of teachers and administrators — that’s a fact — due to the extreme fear and anxiety posed by the abuse of the discipline process at HWDSB schools.”
According to a report to trustees at a committee meeting last month, there were 3,902 suspensions and 49 expulsions during the previous school year.
The vast majority of suspensions were due to Code of Conduct violations, which could include vaping or “repeated disrespect.”
Dahab said the data they’ve requested from staff will go back to 2020 and will hopefully allow for a “holistic conversation” about why students are being suspended or expelled.
“I think … we’ll have to have a serious reckoning with how our policies have caused harm to some of the most marginalized students in our schools. I think we’ll have to revisit how we align discipline policies that are occurring in our school with our equity action plan.”
She said that conversation may include weighing the effectiveness of these discipline measures.
The goal will be to have the data reported to the board by June, but some of it may not be available until later this year if staff need more time to compile it.
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