Peel District School Board

The Peel District School Board, (PDSB, formerly known as English-Language Public District School Board No. 19 prior to 1999) is the school district for the Region of Peel in Ontario, Canada. The board's 262 schools and other facilities, including two online schools, are used by approximately 148,000 students between kindergarten and the twelfth grade. The board employs more than 15,000 full-time staff and is the largest employer in Peel Region. As of 2023 it is the second largest school board in Canada. History In 1970, 10 local boards came together as the Peel County Board of Education. In 1969, the board served a community of a quarter million residents—20 percent of the population. The newly formed Peel County Board had 50,000 students in 114 schools and an operating budget of $41 million. In 1973, the name changed to the "Peel Board of Education," before being changed the "Peel District School Board" in 1998. The Peel board unveiled its current logo in September 2006. The design was based on the feedback from over 500 people including staff, students, parents, representatives of faith and culture communities and unions and federations. Directors * indicates a namesake for a school in the PDSB John Fraser, 1973-1988* Bob Lee, 1988–c. 1993* Harold Brathwaite, 1994–2002* Jim Grieve, 2002–2009* Tony Pontes, 2010–2017* Peter Joshua, 2017–2020 Colleen Russell-Rawlins, 2020–2021 (interim) Rashmi Swarup, 2021–present Demographics and cultural sensitivity The Peel District School Board is ethnically and culturally diverse, largely due to its high student population. PDSB was among the first Canadian school boards to permit students to wear kirpans to classes. The school board does not allow religious leaders to lead prayer sessions within schools. Programs Adult and continuing education PDSB offers a variety of adult programs during the day, at night and on weekends. Programs include credit programs to help adults complete their secondary school diploma, adult ESL programs to help adults develop and refine their English language skills, and literacy and basic skills courses to help adults upgrade specific skills. The board received media attention in 2011 for its Foreign-Trained Teacher course, a course designed to help new Canadians enter the teacher profession. PDSB offers International Language Programs on weekends for school-aged students. At the secondary level, students can earn credits towards their secondary school diploma. Students additionally have access to night and summer school, literacy and math support, and online school. French immersion French immersion begins in grade 1 and extended French begins in grade 7. Registration for both programs takes place in January, with the board offering information for parents on how to decide whether French immersion is right for their child and other information about French immersion. Regional Enhanced Program The Peel District School Board runs the ELC Regional Enhanced Program, in grades 1 to 12, a gifted education program. The program is described as for students having "an unusually advanced degree of general intellectual ability that requires differentiated learning experiences of a depth and breadth beyond those normally provided in the regular school programme to satisfy the level of educational potential indicated." There are two high schools designated as Peel Regional Enhanced Centres that provide the Enhanced programming and curriculum from Grade 9 to Grade 12. The Woodlands School is attended by ELC students in most of Mississauga, and Heart Lake Secondary School is attended by ELC students in Caledon, Brampton, and the neighbourhood of Malton in Mississauga. The precise number and variety of Enhanced courses differs from school to school, but most schools offer the core mandatory courses as Enhanced. Organization of the school system within the Board The Board organizes its schools into "school families." School families designate the respective feeder schools into each of the secondary schools within the PDSB. The following list is the organization from the 2018-2019 school year. Caledon Brampton Mississauga Controversies Former Vice Principal Ranjit Khatkur of South Asian background alleged that her ethnic/racial background was the reason she was overlooked for promotion to principal despite fulfilling all requirements. Khatkur launched a legal complaint at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario alleging systematic discrimination in the Peel public board. One of many such human rights allegations made towards the board. It eventually culminated in allowing the Turner Consulting Group to release a Research Report on Hiring and Promotion at the Peel District School Board. The 111-page report led to changes in the hiring and promotion policies in the Peel Board. Previously Principals conducted interviews alone without having to demonstrate why they chose the applicants they did or document what questions they asked. The changes include having two people conducting an interview to eliminate bias, the principal is not part of the promotion process thereby eliminating their "gatekeeper" role, and begin a diversity census. The report found that it was not only ethnic or visible minorities that experienced discrimination. Tana Turner found that even some white males suspected nepotism, favoritism, or cronyism. In 2023, the Peel District School Board attempted to remove all titles that had been published before 2008 as an "equity-based weeding process". These books were perceived as inherently lacking inclusivity and thus harming students based solely on their publication date. The district prevented these books from being donated and required them to be thrown out. There were plans to remove any book published more than fifteen years ago on an ongoing basis "to remain culturally relevant". Stephen Lecce ordered the weeding process to be halted from its completion after thousands of books had already been removed. Trustees The board's chair is David Green and vice chair is Satpaul Singh Johal. Secondary school rankings The Peel District School Board does not officially support the Fraser ranking system and does not rank its schools. The most up-to-date Fraser rankings can be found on the Fraser website. See also Education in Ontario Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board List of school districts in Ontario List of secondary schools in Ontario Book censorship in Canada References External links Peel District School Board Archived April 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine