Toronto District School Board
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Policy

What is Our Equity Goal?

Ensuring procedures are in place at all levels of the system for developing, implementing and reviewing policies that promote equity and inclusion

How Have We Started To Achieve It?

  • Reviewed the Equity Foundation Policy (P037) to ensure the Board’s commitment to fairness, equity and inclusion are essential principles of the TDSB
  • Engaged our community in online and in-person public consultations on the draft Equity Foundation Policy. Following revisions, it is expected to be presented to the Board's Governance and Policy Committee in March 2018.
  • Conducted an environmental scan and started reviewing best practices of like organizations in advance of developing an Equity Assessment Tool to use in the formal policy review process. 
  • Revised Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy (P034) has been approved and, with the new Workplace Harassment Prevention and Human Rights Procedure, will be rolled out to the system in December 2017 with related training.
  • Revised drafts of Accessibility Standards for Customer Service (P069), Workplace Violence Prevention (P072) and Community Use of Board Facilities (P011) which are pending review at the Governance and Policy Committee.
  • Preliminary work has started on a review of the Caring and Safe Schools Policy (P051) and Appropriate Dress Policy (P042) and new procedures to support Creed Accommodations and Gender Identity and Expression Accommodations.

What Have We Learned?

Through the Enhancing Equity Task Force engagement process, we learned that there is a need for a clearer definition as well as an interpretation of the term equity – how equity applies to TDSB policies, programs and services, and how equity supports our shared commitment to improving outcomes for every student in every school.

We have understood that based on historic patterns, we must explicitly address communities and students who the system has not yet been able to serve well. e.g. addressing Anti-Indigenous/Anti Black racism; the need to collect information on Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism which we will begin to collect this year. 

What’s Next?

  • Finalize the Equity Foundation Policy (P037).
  • Co-develop Equity Assessment Tool.