Vote Logan Shields for HWDSB Trustee Wards 5 & 10

I will push to make sure every student is educated about sexual harassment and bullying. I push for clear procedures for responding to sexual harassment that priortize the safety of the victims.

I understand that when it comes to bullying of all kinds, but especially bullying of a sexual nature, victims worry about shame and embarassment. Victims may also fear retaliation especially since the bully is often precevied as holding some sort of authority in the school or does actually hold such authority. I would work on policies that ensure appropriate training and procedures are given to all staff to make sure they do not amplify any of these feelings and prevent any retaliation. HWDSB needs to be a place all victims feel safe to come forward. I will also push for a zero tolerance policy for all staff that mishandle safety incidents, bullying, or sexual harassment.

HWDSB fails to help students and their families when they need it. I remember it taking days and a phone call to the Ombudsman before Orchard Park would fix my schedule. I was given five classes in a four-period school day. It shouldn't have taken days and a phone call to an exteral organization in Toronto before the board would help me.

Another time I was trying to complain about the conduct of the now former principal and vice principal of Orchard Park. Both the then superintendent and Todd White the current trustee refused to help me. I will listen to all the parents, students, and community members who reach out. I will take action if it is within my purview, like proposing a change to board policy or raising a matter at a board meeting, or try to connect you with the approriate authority (Ontario College of Teachers, Ombudsman, Board Official, ect.).

I believe the board is currently overly eager to get involved in the private family lives of students. Where there is no safety concern school staff should not be making comments, especially unsolicted comments, about where a student should live. School staff should not be enouraging students to leave home and live at a homeless shelter, especially when there are no safety concerns involved. Where there is a safety concern, school staff should promptly contact Child and Family Supports, and ensure the student is connected with them. They should ensure that at all times the student has and knows they have a safe environment at the school.

School staff can treat family members as weapons to be used against children they don't like. They will attempt to cause fights at the homes of students, by giving lies or misleading statements to parents about their children. This must end. I will push for policies that make sure schools respect students, their families, and the releationships between themselves, while supporting Child and Family Supports in their mandate and taking approriate actions to intervene when there are safety concerns. I will seek to foster a zero tolerance culture and rules for staff members contacting parents for improper purposes.

Decisions of the board are often made without clear reasoning or fair process. Sometimes it is no clear who at the board is resposible for decisions. This is unacceptable. I will push for policies that require the name of the person who made them and the authority under which they are made. They will also require the factual basis for which they are made to be included. I will push for policies that make clear that absent urgent circumstances decisions should be communicated in writting, and that in urgent circumstances, written communication of the decision should follow as soon as is practicable.

The process by which decisions are made is often unfair. The board excessively relies upon the discretion of decision-makers in establishing procedures, that often mean that one student ends up with a very different process than another student and how decisions are made is often unknown to those it effects.There is also no appeal procedure for many matters, which leds to students and their families having to fight for months to get another person to look at a decision. All of this undermines respect and credibility of the board's decisions. I would push for board-wide policies establishing procedures for processes like grading and student feedback; academic appeals; all student discipline issues; collection, use, retention, and disclosure of personal information; school clubs and other organizations; and course selection. I believe these policies should be communicated to students and parents via the board's website, as well being posted at a conspicuous place at every school. I also would push for training for principals and vice-principals on these policies so they are able to respond to questions from students and parents about the policies.