Regulation 274 may violate boards’ obligations to have a diverse workforce under the human rights code, says a Toronto trustee who is asking the courts to rule on its legality.

By: Education Reporter, GTA, Education Schools, Published on Wed Sep 11 2013

Two Toronto trustees want Ontario to make sure new teacher hiring rules don’t threaten the growing diversity among teachers by making it hard to hire the rookies who are more likely to come from varied backgrounds.

Howard Goodman and Shelley Laskin, of the Toronto District School Board, are seeking a legal ruling on whether a new regulation that forces boards to hire teachers based on seniority may violate the board’s obligation to employ a diverse workforce under the Human Rights Code. The motion goes before trustees at their meeting Wednesday night.

The TDSB has seen the diversity of its staff grow each year, with some 39 per cent of new teachers hired last year identifying themselves as racial minorities, up from 22 per cent in 2006-2007, when the board was first compelled to start tracking by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

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Many have warned about the threat to diversity posed by Regulation 274, which requires Ontario principals to hire from among the five applicants with the most seniority, to avoid nepotism.

Critics say the newer the batch of teachers, the greater its diversity, thanks to recruitment by teachers’ colleges and many school boards. Lowering the prospects for fresh graduates could mean a move away from a more diverse teaching staff.

“The diversity of our students has definitely grown, so if you’re hiring teachers who graduated a few years ago and have been occasional teachers for a longer time, they may not be as diverse a group,” noted Dean Ron Owston, of York University’s faculty of education, who believes boards can avoid nepotism better by using standard hiring processes than with the “heavy-handed” tool of seniority.

Of 1,100 students in York’s faculty of education this year, he said, 240 students identified as being from an under-represented group — up from 185 last year. Those groups include aboriginal people, visible minorities, disabled people, those from low-income backgrounds, and varied sexual orientations.

Goodman’s motion asks the TDSB’s director of education to write to Education Minister Liz Sandals to “submit a request to the Divisional Court of Ontario for an opinion” as to whether a school board can avoid the new seniority hiring regulation if it conflicts with the Human Rights Code or a provincial policy that calls for bias-free hiring.

Ontario’s policy on equitable hiring says “the board’s work force should reflect the diversity within the community so that students, parents and community members are able to see themselves represented,” Goodman writes in the motion.

A spokesperson for Sandals said that if the board does approve Goodman’s motion, “we would be pleased to have a discussion on this issue.”

Lauren Ramey said “we … recognize that there are concerns about this change and appreciate hearing feedback,” noting in an email that the government has struck committees with both high school and elementary teacher unions to consider changes.

A 2007 settlement between the education ministry and the Ontario Human Rights Commission made a diverse workforce a priority and said the Human Rights Code trumps “all other provincial legislation.”

The Goodman motion says the board “has repeatedly stated its objections to (Regulation 274), in that its trustees believe that the terms of the regulation are harmful to student achievement and well-being,” and that the hiring rules are opposed by other boards, all four school-board associations and the deans of Ontario’s faculties of education.

Another motion before trustees says an easy fix to Regulation 274 is to add the hiring of family members or business associates to conflict-of-interest rules.

Regulation 274 was brought in after Ontario English Catholic teachers complained about nepotism in their boards, and the education ministry later applied it to all boards in the province.

Critics say it shuts out talented young teachers, who have found themselves ineligible for jobs and even job interviews, and that principals should hire the best fit for the job, regardless of how much time teachers have spent in supply positions.

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