Boundary Spanners, Advocacy Leaders, or Gatekeepers? School District Activism in the Development of Race Equity Policies and Programs in Toronto and London, 1978-2008

• In Event: Reimagining Family, School, and Community Partnerships as an Educational Change Strategy in the United States, Canada, and England

Abstract

Overview and Perspective

On January 29, 2008 the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) approved the development of an Africentric school under their Alternative School policy. While this decision was the result of decades of educational activism by Black parents and community organizations, it also represented the behind-the-scenes advocacy of African Canadian district educators who bridged the school bureaucracy and community-based organizations to advocate for the needs of African Canadian students (Author, 2013).

In London school district activism continued throughout the 1980s when newly appointed African Caribbean and Asian school leaders in the Inner London Educational Authority (ILEA) advocated for anti-racist policies and developed multicultural curriculum for London schools through the Center for Urban Studies and the Afro Caribbean Education Project (ACER) (Olowe, 1990; Garrison, 1985).

Methods and Data Sources

Utilizing a comparative historical case study approach, archival research was conducted on-site in both Canada and England. Primary sources in Toronto included the published minutes from the Toronto City School Board (1978 – 2008), curriculum guides, reports, and school board correspondence on the achievement status of African Canadian students, and newspaper articles, editorial essays, and photographs in mainstream newspapers and community-based publications.

Primary sources for the London case included thirty years of newspaper clippings and journal articles on the promotion of race equality, and ILEA surveys, reports, curriculum guides, videotapes, and newsletters. Oral history interviews were conducted with 10 former principals and school district officials from the Toronto District School Board and 10 former ILEA headteachers and district officials.

Findings

Although large urban school bureaucracies are often portrayed as fortresses and the adversaries of parent and community activists, this study uncovers the role of progressive district educators in both Toronto and London in the creation of insider-outsider coalitions. The study details how they bridged the school bureaucracy and Black and South Asian community groups to promote race equity policies and programs over a thirty-year period.

Author

• Lauri Johnson, Boston College