Ontario education minister orders review of Kitchener school calling police on 4-year-old

‘Under no scenario should police be called to remove a 4-year-old student,’ Stephen Lecce says

Kate Bueckert · CBC News · Posted: Feb 25, 2022

Ontario’s education minister has ordered a review of how the Waterloo Region Catholic District School Board handled a situation where police were called to John Sweeney Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener to deal with a four-year-old student’s behaviour.

Police have confirmed officers went to the school on Nov. 29 after receiving a report of a student in crisis who was said to be acting violently.

The child’s family is Nigerian. The incident has prompted advocates for Black families to speak out about police being called to a kindergarten classroom.

Police said officers worked to de-escalate the student’s behaviour, contacted a family member and drove the child home. 

“Under no scenario should police be called to remove a four-year-old student from a school in this province,” Minister Stephen Lecce said in a statement to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo on Friday afternoon.

“Black and racialized parents continue to deal with these unacceptable situations that only demoralize and harm their children and families.”

Lecce said a third-party representative from the Ministry of Education will do an “objective analysis of the circumstances.” The report will recommend actions to the school board “to ensure it never happens again.”

“We have to do better,” Lecce said.

The report is expected to be completed in the next month, and will be given to the family and the school board.

School board ‘failed’ child, advocate says

Fidelia Ukueje, president of Nigerians in the Region of Waterloo, is acting as a spokesperson for the family of the four-year-old because they didn’t want to speak to the media.

Ukueje disputes the account by police, and said the child was jumping on a desk and running away from a teacher, but was not being violent.

“The school board has failed a four-year-old by criminalizing a child. Nothing justified what the school board did to that child.”

CBC Kitchener-Waterloo reached out to the Waterloo Catholic District School Board for comment about the provincial review. The board did not immediately respond to the request.

Earlier this week, when contacted for comment, the school board would not confirm the incident. In response to questions, the board said it had met with the family on Wednesday, but could not comment on the situation because of privacy legislation.

The child has been “on exclusion” and has not been allowed to attend in-person classes since Jan. 18, the school board confirmed. The family is working to move the child to another school.

Minister needs to see it’s not just 1 school: MPP

Kitchener Centre MPP Laura Mae Lindo, who is also the NDP’s anti-racism critic, said she has received more than 350 emails about anti-Black racism in schools as she has worked on Bill 67, Racial Equity in the Education System Act, which would make a number of amendments to the Education Act to include anti-racist language. It goes for a second reading at Queen’s Park next week.

She said many of the emails raised concerns about harsher discipline for Black students in similar situations to the one brought to light this week.

“What is interesting to me is that Minister Lecce has been the minister of education through more than just this particular incident,” Lindo said Friday.

She pointed to another incident last fall in the Waterloo Region District School Board where a teacher was charged with assault after allegedly taping two children with masking tape in the classroom, as well as a report on the Peel District School Board that found administrators were ill prepared to deal with anti-Black racism directly affecting students.

“He’s been the minister in this entire time and even his statement now is like a refusal to recognize how these instances are all connected,” Lindo said.

“What I would love to have heard from him is that he sees this as the straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s going to force him to have to make systemic changes in schools as opposed to, ‘I’m going to look at one instance and one school’ is the only problem.”

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Police called to Waterloo region Catholic school to assist with 4-year-old student ‘in crisis’

• Ricardo Veneza
• CTV News Kitchener Videographer

A family in Ontario’s Waterloo region is calling for the director of education at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board to resign after police were called to a school in November concerning their four-year-old child.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service confirmed to CTV News officers received a call in November 2021 from a school principal regarding a student in crisis, who was said to be acting violently.

Several groups met on Wednesday to discuss the incident, included the child’s family, board administration, Nigerians in the Region of Waterloo (NIROW), and provincial advocacy groups Parents of Black Children and the Early Childhood Development Initiative.

Following the meeting, Fidelia Ukueje, the president of NIROW, said the family is devastated by the incident.

“[The] mom is traumatized. [The] mom is heartbroken,” said Ukueje, speaking to reporters outside of the WCDSB headquarters in Kitchener on Wednesday. “Not only has the school failed the boy, it has failed the mom because mom clearly showed up there that she has questioned herself, time and time again, and felt that she was a failure.”

Ukueje, speaking on behalf of the child’s family, said they want to see a full investigation to determine what led the board to call police to manage a four-year-old child.

“Accountability needs to be taken,” said Ukueje. “An investigation needs to be done and everyone who played a part in this case needs to be brought to the book.”

Police declined to comment on camera, but a statement emailed to CTV News said in part:

“We were called by the principal of a school regarding a student in crisis, who was said to be acting violently. This call came in on Nov. 29, 2021 at 10:49 a.m. The student was placed in a safe and secure room at the school while police were en route.”

“Police arrived and immediately began to work with the student in attempts to de-escalate the behaviour,” the statement continued. “Officers were able to locate a family member after school officials advised they were unable to locate the student’s parents. Police drove the student home to be cared for by this family member. Police were later able to speak to the student’s parents about the incident.”

Ukueje says they’re unsatisfied with the explanation from the board as to what led to police being called in November.

“In their own language, he was just too active, they could not contain him,” said Ukueje.

The school board also declined to comment on camera, but in a statement emailed to CTV News, said the safety and wellbeing of students and staff is its top priority.

“In circumstances where students are struggling, all available resources are employed to ensure all opportunities for success are offered to the students and their families,” the statement read. “This process often involves a series of meetings with the family involved. Those resources and supports have been provided on an ongoing basis by the school, throughout this school year.”

“An initial meeting between school board staff and the family involved in this instance was scheduled for late [Wednesday] morning. The meeting is a private meeting between the family and school board staff – not a meeting of the Board of Trustees,” the statement continued. “As always, legislation protecting the personal privacy of individuals prevents the school board from discussing any details of the issues involving the student or any of the allegations made by the family.”

In addition to an investigation, following the private meetings, advocates called for the board’s director of education – Loretta Notten – to resign.

Community advocates speak to media outside the Waterloo District Catholic School Board office on Feb. 23, 2022. (Ricardo Veneza/CTV Kitchener)

Source: CTV News