[Article]
[Archive]
Author of the article:
Heather Rivers
Published May 18, 2023
Same London school, similar issue, another mass absence.
This time, though, apparent backlash at some other schools, as well.
More than 400 pupils at one of London’s largest elementary schools – about one-third of the entire headcount – stayed home Wednesday, on a day when the rainbow flag flew across the school district as the area public board saluted International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
Just three months ago, a similar mass absence broke out at Eagle Heights elementary school as it marked Rainbow Day, a designated day to celebrate diversity and inclusion. That left the Thames Valley District school board looking into the unusually high number of students who did not go to class, an issue the board’s education director, Mark Fisher, later called a “miscommunication.”
Unusually high absence levels were also reported at some other elementary schools in the city Wednesday, one source within the school system, who chalked it up to pushback against the intended purpose of the day, told The Free Press. Fearing job reprisal, the person did not want to be identified.
Arthur Ford public school reportedly had 375 absences and Wilfrid Jury 300, said the source.
Other schools with high absences included Ashley Oaks, Sir George Etienne Cartier, Westmount and Sir Isaac Brock elementary schools.
Thames Valley, the region’s largest school board, remained tight-lipped about the absence levels and what explains them.
The Free Press asked to speak to Fisher, the board’s top official, but the board instead referred it to a superintendent who issued only a brief statement.
“We will work with individuals, schools and communities who may have experienced higher than usual absenteeism rates on May 17 or any other day during the school year, to encourage all students to attend school when they are able,” said Andrew Canham, the board’s superintendent of student achievement.
The board similarly said very little last February, despite repeatedly being asked, in the aftermath of what appeared to be a large move by parents to keep their kids home from Eagle Heights as the school celebrated Rainbow Day, which is all about diversity and inclusion.
Roughly one-third of the kids were no-shows that day at the diverse school that includes pupils from many cultures and many of the Muslim faith.
Sources have suggested many Muslim families at the school, on Oxford Street near the city’s largest mosque, deliberately chose to keep their kids home to avoid Rainbow Day. A board official at the time said only that it was “actively looking into a high number of single-day absences” reported at the school.
The London Muslim Mosque did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, after the latest apparent school boycott.
One teacher, who noted almost half her class was missing Wednesday, said Thames Valley teachers are “tired of fighting against discrimination.” The teacher, who did not want to be identified, works within the public school system but not at Eagle Heights.
An area advocate for the LGBTQ+ community said the idea that kids would be kept home to avoid marking the anti-homophobia day leaves her “speechless.”
“I guess it’s the parents’ choice, but it’s very unfortunate,” said Tami Murray, president of the umbrella group Oxford County Pride.
“In a time where the same group (Muslims) has been quite marginalized, you would think that minorities and marginalized groups would unite and support each other,” she said.
Backlash to public acknowledgement and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community has flared in pockets of Southwestern Ontario over the past year, most recently in Norwich Township in Oxford County. Last month, township politicians rejected a bid to declare June as Pride Month and adopted a government flags-only policy for civic property, effectively banning the Pride flag — a universal symbol of LGBTQ+ inclusion — and other special banners.
Even at that, however, the rainbow flag still flew Wednesday at the lone public elementary school in Norwich, the township’s major centre, and the school board drew praise for requiring the flag to be flown at all 161 of its schools and again for Pride Month in June.
The area separate school system, the London District Catholic school board, left decisions about flag-flying to individual schools.
Sherri Moore and Beth Mai, the school trustees who represent the Eagle Heights area on the public school board, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
On Feb. 10, Rainbow Day at the school, about 400 pupils stayed home — an eyebrow-raising absence level to many in education circles. Many of the children were from Muslim families, sources told The Free Press at the time.
In the fallout, the president of the local wing of the public elementary school teachers’ union suggested the board needs to have “courageous conversations” with the Muslim community.
“At the end of the day, there is clearly a big issue there that needs to be addressed,” said Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.
Board officials have not publicly reported to school trustees about what happened at Eagle Heights in February or what measures, if any, were taken as a result.
[Archive]
Mass absences break out at Ontario schools as Pride flag flies
Same London school, similar issue, another mass absence.Author of the article:
Heather Rivers
Published May 18, 2023
Same London school, similar issue, another mass absence.
This time, though, apparent backlash at some other schools, as well.
More than 400 pupils at one of London’s largest elementary schools – about one-third of the entire headcount – stayed home Wednesday, on a day when the rainbow flag flew across the school district as the area public board saluted International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.
Just three months ago, a similar mass absence broke out at Eagle Heights elementary school as it marked Rainbow Day, a designated day to celebrate diversity and inclusion. That left the Thames Valley District school board looking into the unusually high number of students who did not go to class, an issue the board’s education director, Mark Fisher, later called a “miscommunication.”
Unusually high absence levels were also reported at some other elementary schools in the city Wednesday, one source within the school system, who chalked it up to pushback against the intended purpose of the day, told The Free Press. Fearing job reprisal, the person did not want to be identified.
Arthur Ford public school reportedly had 375 absences and Wilfrid Jury 300, said the source.
Other schools with high absences included Ashley Oaks, Sir George Etienne Cartier, Westmount and Sir Isaac Brock elementary schools.
Thames Valley, the region’s largest school board, remained tight-lipped about the absence levels and what explains them.
The Free Press asked to speak to Fisher, the board’s top official, but the board instead referred it to a superintendent who issued only a brief statement.
“We will work with individuals, schools and communities who may have experienced higher than usual absenteeism rates on May 17 or any other day during the school year, to encourage all students to attend school when they are able,” said Andrew Canham, the board’s superintendent of student achievement.
The board similarly said very little last February, despite repeatedly being asked, in the aftermath of what appeared to be a large move by parents to keep their kids home from Eagle Heights as the school celebrated Rainbow Day, which is all about diversity and inclusion.
Roughly one-third of the kids were no-shows that day at the diverse school that includes pupils from many cultures and many of the Muslim faith.
Sources have suggested many Muslim families at the school, on Oxford Street near the city’s largest mosque, deliberately chose to keep their kids home to avoid Rainbow Day. A board official at the time said only that it was “actively looking into a high number of single-day absences” reported at the school.
The London Muslim Mosque did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, after the latest apparent school boycott.
One teacher, who noted almost half her class was missing Wednesday, said Thames Valley teachers are “tired of fighting against discrimination.” The teacher, who did not want to be identified, works within the public school system but not at Eagle Heights.
An area advocate for the LGBTQ+ community said the idea that kids would be kept home to avoid marking the anti-homophobia day leaves her “speechless.”
“I guess it’s the parents’ choice, but it’s very unfortunate,” said Tami Murray, president of the umbrella group Oxford County Pride.
“In a time where the same group (Muslims) has been quite marginalized, you would think that minorities and marginalized groups would unite and support each other,” she said.
Backlash to public acknowledgement and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community has flared in pockets of Southwestern Ontario over the past year, most recently in Norwich Township in Oxford County. Last month, township politicians rejected a bid to declare June as Pride Month and adopted a government flags-only policy for civic property, effectively banning the Pride flag — a universal symbol of LGBTQ+ inclusion — and other special banners.
Even at that, however, the rainbow flag still flew Wednesday at the lone public elementary school in Norwich, the township’s major centre, and the school board drew praise for requiring the flag to be flown at all 161 of its schools and again for Pride Month in June.
The area separate school system, the London District Catholic school board, left decisions about flag-flying to individual schools.
Sherri Moore and Beth Mai, the school trustees who represent the Eagle Heights area on the public school board, did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.
On Feb. 10, Rainbow Day at the school, about 400 pupils stayed home — an eyebrow-raising absence level to many in education circles. Many of the children were from Muslim families, sources told The Free Press at the time.
In the fallout, the president of the local wing of the public elementary school teachers’ union suggested the board needs to have “courageous conversations” with the Muslim community.
“At the end of the day, there is clearly a big issue there that needs to be addressed,” said Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.
Board officials have not publicly reported to school trustees about what happened at Eagle Heights in February or what measures, if any, were taken as a result.
