This is a follow-up article to “BC Teacher’s Federation President keeping a close eye on SD57 drama.” For the full context, read that article first.
Clint Johnston, the President of the BC Teacher’s Federation, has been keeping a close eye on the ongoing drama between the School District 57 School Board and the Prince George District Teacher’s Association (PGDTA).
In brief, the PGDTA President, Daryl Beauregard, has repeatedly called on the School Board to denounce homophobia, transphobia, and other behaviours and rhetoric that go against district and provincial policy.
After nearly two months of this, the school board has not issued any official statement and they blocked Beauregard from speaking at February’s board meeting – something which he said has never happened before.
This was all started by a member of the public addressing the school board in December with a speech that, in part, had elements of transphobia, and an unsubstantiated accusation of high levels of teacher-student abuse in the district.
Beauregard said this was just a part of a larger trend he has observed in Prince George which has seen similar comments made online, and directly to district staff by some parents and members of the public – many harshly criticizing the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) policies that are in schools at a provincial level.
So what is SOGI?
SOGI has been adopted by the Ministry of Education, and has 10 main components:
- Common Language
- Safety & Anti-Harassment
- Self-Identification
- Confidentiality
- Dress Guidelines
- Gender Integrated and Inclusive Activities
- Educator Training
- Inclusive Learning
- Facilities
- Inclusive Extra-Curricular Activities
For more information on each of these points, click here.
The SOGI BC website says the policy is “not its own curriculum; it is one aspect of diversity that is embedded across a range of grades and subject areas. SOGI-inclusive education is about treating everyone with dignity and respect. All students need to see themselves and their families reflected in lessons, language and practices. Like other forms of inclusion in schools, the goal of SOGI-inclusive education is for everyone to understand the diverse society that we live in and to feel safe, valued, and respected.”
“School spaces are supposed to be inclusive and safe,” Johnston said, explaining his opinion why SOGI is important.
“I am a white, cisgender, heterosexual male. The world for me is almost always comfortable because I see representation of who I am and the life that I live everywhere,” he explained. “That should be the same for every student and staff member.”
At the same time, he said the policies are also in place to help students “learn about the variety of people they live with, and the variety of lifestyles that are perfectly healthy to live that different people do live.”
He said the more information there is for students, the higher their ability to understand will be, making it more likely for all students to feel included and comfortable in their schools and classrooms.
On the flip side, Johnston said “the lack of information never helped anyone to do better.”
“It is a tiny thing, but you always hear people talking about the SOGI curriculum,” he said. “They are not even knowledgeable enough to know it is not a curriculum, it is a set of resources… as soon as people can’t rightly identify the thing they are critiquing, that makes me question their critique of it and how much they actually know about it.”
Pushback against SOGI, and similar programs, is not unique to Prince George or School District 57.
Both Johnston and Beauregard have acknowledged that many areas around the province have seen similar sentiments made and comments shared, once again both online and directly to school and district staff members.
“It is not insignificant,” Johnston said, pointing at his own home town of Chilliwack as another example.
In last year’s municipal election, he said many candidates across the province campaigned on what he called “anti-SOGI, or homophobic, or transphobic platforms.”
“There are these opinions everywhere, some places in significant numbers, but overall in BC, resoundingly that perspective was rejected last year by voters,” Johnston said, adding that he thinks that is representative of how students, staff, and parents at large feel.
“I would encourage people to keep an open mind,” he said in closing. “I think if people have questions, I would invite them to do some actual research on the actual SOGI resources, not listen to secondhand hyperbolic misinformation or disinformation.”
Also linked above, you can read more about SOGI here.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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