A persistent ethical issue in Peel District School Board (PDSB)

A persistent ethical issue in Peel District School Board (PDSB) Isaac Osei-Akoto
Walden University
A persistent ethical issue in Peel District School Board (PDSB)

Peel District School Board (PDSB) is one of Ontario’s many school districts. It serves the educational needs of three municipalities, namely, Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon by providing Kindergarten to Grade 12 education to all students of school going age who live in the school district. According to a 2011 census data, the Region of Peel is home to about 1.3 million people (Region of Peel, n.d.). In terms of its populations served, PDSB serves a widely diverse population that keeps growing exponentially. For example, according to the above referenced census data, between 2006 and 2011, Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon grew at the rate of 20.8%, 55% and 4.2% respectively. According to the census ' comparative analysis, Brampton is the second most densely populated city in Ontario. Further to the above, the 2011 census data state that, “The top home languages in Peel are Punjabi in Brampton, Urdu in Mississauga and Italian in Caledon” while “Of the 124,100 people who speak only Punjabi at home in Ontario, 86,185 (69%) live in Peel.” This is a snapshot of the demographics served by the PDSB.
Businessdictionary.com (2013) defines an ethical issue as “a problem or situation that requires a person or organization to choose between alternatives that must be evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical).” By implication ethical issues are also moral and social justice issues because they always impact people either for good or for bad. There are, however, degrees of ethical issues depending on the population size of those who are impacted or affected by the decisions made. A significant ethical or social justice issue faced by PDSB revolves around its teacher hiring and promotion process. In its teacher hiring and promotion process PDSB hires and promotes more white teachers than minorities. What makes this situation an ethical or social justice issue is that it would be expected that in a significantly multicultural region as Peel – as discussed above – the district school board would hire and promote teachers and administrators to reflect the populations it serves. Unfortunately this does not happen. Instead, most qualified teachers in the region who are in the minority are discriminated against in the hiring process and thus are hired to a very limited degree, while the few who are hired face the glass ceiling effect after they are hired and therefore face difficulties in getting promoted. In a recent and related case, PDSB settled a human rights case brought against it by Ranjit Kathkur, “a vice-principal who alleged that systemic discrimination prevented her from being promoted” (Mississauga.com, 2012). The ethical nature of this issue is summed up in the following accusatory commentary: "It was noted that in 2007-08, only five of 235 principals — 2 per cent — in the board were South Asian, while close to 30 per cent of Peel Region was South Asian" (Mississauga.com, 2012).
I consider the above unethical practice as being grounded in egoism or altruism, the ethical philosophical concept that states that humans are inherently selfish (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Historically, until immigrants started to flood the region, PDSB staff was predominantly white. Even though the demographics have changed as a result of more immigrants making the region their home, the whites do not want to share by proportionately hiring staff to reflect the demographic changes. In continuing to hire more white teachers, PDSB’s predominantly white leadership is sending a message of selfishness or egoism. This demonstrated attitude to teacher hiring and promotion in PDSB is not only altruistic, but it is also points to inequity within the region in terms of teacher hiring and promotion because the job opportunities within the district school board are not being shared equitably, thus leading to social equity issues. As well, the situation is a clear pointer to injustice within the district school board regarding its teacher hiring and promotion process. A careful consideration of PDSB’s teacher hiring and promotion practices reveal an element of injustice because it runs contrary to Slote’s (2010) perspective on a just action as one that is “… guided by a vision of the Good.” The point here is that the practice is not guided by a vision that is good for the entire population of Peel Region, especially the minorities.
To facilitate understanding, philosophical theories are usually broken down into themes, for example human rights, equality, liberty, and justice. These themes are used to describe or categorize ethical or social justice issues for the purpose of easy understanding – among other reasons – even though some overlap in their meanings and applications.
First, the above described ethical issues faced by the PDSB, could be classified as an equity issue. Kranich (2005) indicates that equity issues result when “Some are excluded” and have to “overcome obstacles to access” what is otherwise available to others in the same community. Peel District School Board (PDSB) serves a diverse community including an estimated 49% immigrant population who come from over 100 ethnic groups of which “45 in 100 people in the region have a mother tongue other than English or French” (Regional Diversity Roundtable, n.d.). Unfortunately, the board’s hiring and promotion practices, with particular reference to academic staff, do not reflect this diversity. It is generally perceived that the hiring and promotion processes in PDSB are not equitable and that “principals hire whomever they please, often leading to nepotism

” (Grewal, 2013).
As well, in its teacher hiring and promotion processes PDSB creates an equality issue. According to Kranich (2005), there is equality when “every citizen [gets] the same opportunity to influence the course of democracy, and to benefit from the fruits of a good society.” As it is, more white teachers are hired and promoted in PDSB than minorities in a significantly disproportionate ways. In PDSB, minorities who are qualified teachers do not get equal opportunities to be hired as their white counterparts do.
Among the challenges PDSB faces as a result of disproportionately hiring and promoting more whites than all the other social groups put together is the challenge of social equity. I believe this major challenge exists because the present PDSB system has created unfairness in employment opportunities for whites and non-whites. As a result, non-white individuals and groups or communities within the region are not benefiting from the resources in the community proportionately. The status quo has resulted from the decisions, policies and everyday work practices of the board of directors of PDSB and their administrators who have direct responsibility for hiring and promoting the academic staff (King County Equity and Social Justice Annual Report, 2012).
Another challenge faced by PDSB is lack of justice. According to Slote (2010) to consider an action just, its agent’s soul must synchronize with a vision of the good they represent and their reason must govern their passion and ambition. In the light of the above description of a just action, PDSB’s continued practice of discriminatory hiring and promotion of more whites over non-whites is simply not good. The practice is tantamount to injustice and serves as breeding grounds for social inequity which could lead to violence and other forms of rebellion within the region (Frederickson, 1990).
Placing social equity in its historical and practical contexts, Fredrickson (1990) indicates that on the subject of contracting or employment, the government of the United States of America solved its inequity problem by establishing the 1977 Public Works Employment Act which set aside 10 percent all public works contracts for minority businesses. It is my recommendation that PDSB considers the quota system or approach to resolving the above described ethical issue. To do this, I would recommend it to PDSB to establish a policy that sets aside a percentage of its academic teaching positions for minorities as commensurate the percentage of its minority population.
Another recommendation to address the issue is that PDSB administrators must have a mindset of justice. For example, administrators at PDSB must demonstrate that they are just by being diligent to apply the qualifying criteria to all applicants without exceptions or discrimination. They should not attempt to favor whites over non-whites or vice versa. Once they have demonstrated that they are just or impartial they would be in the position to interview and recommend teachers for hiring regardless of their social class or race. This recommended approach could improve the chances of more non-whites getting into teaching in PDSB because discrimination and injustice that make it difficult for non-whites to get hired would be out of the way. Also since many minorities are qualified to teach, they will be able to compete.
My final recommendation to address the issue regards the availability of job readiness and preparation programs in the region to prepare prospective teachers for interviews. It is one thing to use a quota approach and attempt to remove barriers in the way of minorities on one hand and another thing altogether for them to get the jobs. In between the two points of applying for a job and being hired is the applicant’s performance at the interview. As an employer in the field of education, PDSB has a responsibility to hire teachers who, predictably, would be effective. With support from the municipal government of Region of Peel, PDSB may consider launching a project that will provide hiring information to prospective teachers and also give them training regarding how to succeed at teacher interview. If available, this service would be very helpful to all teachers, especially the majority of minorities who received their teacher training in other countries other than Canada and know very little or nothing about the requirements of Canadian or Ontarian educational system.
In order to achieve the above recommendations, there would be the need for significant organizational changes within PDSB. Given the historic nature of the ethical issue and how deeply imbedded it is in the organization’s administrative structure and modus operandi, it is safe to conjecture that its solution will not only be long in coming, but it will also face resistance. According to Burke (2011) individuals’ response to organizational change is comparable to the five stages one goes through when faced with a terminal illness, namely, shock and denial; anger; bargaining or attempts to defer the inevitable; depression; and acceptance (p.108). On one hand, white teachers and administrators in PDSB may either want to protect their turf or close their ranks in resistance to the required organizational changes or surrender, on the other hand, by giving up their age-old control (Burke, 2011, p. 108-111)
If the recommendations I have proposed are accepted and implemented I would expect to see increased number of minority teachers and administrators in PDSB. As indicated earlier in this paper, even though there are more whites in the Region of Peel than all the minorities’ population put together, it is also on record that the population of the latter in the Region of Peel has increased significantly over the past few years. An increased number of minority teachers and administrators could therefore be determined for each peel school based on its local white-minority population distribution.

References

Burke, W. W. (2011). Organization change: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Businessdictionary.com (2013). Ethical issue. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/ethical-issue.html

Frederickson, H. (1990). Public Administration and Social Equity. Public Administration
Review, 50(2), 228. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=85a53ffd-0af9-4ceb-8cfa-12aab87120fd%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=113

Grewal, S. (2013).
Peel school board still dogged by nepotism claims. Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2013/06/18/peel_school_board_still_dogged_by_nepotism_claim.html King County (2012). Equity and social justice annual report. Retrieved from http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx King County (2012). Equity and social justice annual report. Retrieved from http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx King County (2012). Equity and social justice annual report. Retrieved from http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx Mississauga.com (2012). School board settles discrimination case with vice-principal.
Retrieved from http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/3129979-school-board-settles-discrimination-case-with-vice-principal/

Region of Peel (n.d.). Data. Peel data centre. Retrieved from http://www.peelregion.ca/planning/pdc/data/census/2011-Census/index.htm Regional Diversity Roundtable (n.d.). Diversity in Peel. Retrieved from http://www.regionaldiversityroundtable.org/?q=node/26 Slote, Michael, "Justice as a Virtue", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Fall 2010 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/ethics/

References: Burke, W. W. (2011). Organization change: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Businessdictionary.com (2013). Ethical issue. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/ethical-issue.html Frederickson, H. (1990). Public Administration and Social Equity. Public Administration Review, 50(2), 228 Grewal, S. (2013). Peel school board still dogged by nepotism claims http://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2013/06/18/peel_school_board_still_dogged_by_nepotism_claim.html King County (2012) http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx King County (2012) http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx King County (2012) http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/equity.aspx Mississauga.com (2012)