Advocate for education equalization - Debbie King

She also served on the committee that was responsible for the name change from Queen Victoria to Rita Cox To our dear listeners, Debbie King is here with us to inspire, to educate, and to inform. Let us welcome Debbie King.!

And when I thought about it, I realized absolutely, because all of that, all that means is that you are somebody, anybody who has recognized the need and who has stepped up into action, whether you've done that partnering with one other person, whether you've done that with a vaster group, you whether you've done that in a more organized way, if you have stepped up and taken action to address a need and to service your community, your neighbors, then you have organized and you have built and you

can absolutely own and embrace that title.

I think that's the vision that many folks share. But I think, what's really wonderful is that we all have creative visions. We all have ideas. We all have different routes, different possibilities. That we see, and I think what's important is not necessarily just what I see, but it's being able to create the capacity and the opportunities for other people to come to the table with their ideas and the things that they want to see built in response to their needs as well.

So there was a moment, Rita and Elton where I was standing on a picnic table in the playground in the yard of this public school, holding the microphone, addressing a crowd of about 300, 300 students, parents, community neighbors that had all come together for this event. We were gathered in the yard, and then we were going to head out on our walk on our march against racism. And when I was on the mic, I was speaking, I hadn't prepared my words. I had just decided to speak in that moment.

I knew what the day was about. I knew the message that we wanted to convey. I didn't script it. And as I spoke, there was a moment where I could, in a sort of out of body moment, I was able to hear the words that I was saying as they were coming out of my mouth.

And what I was saying down there in Parkdale at King and Jameson was that, we wouldn't allow a group of individuals to sit up in an office at 5050 Yonge Street and make decisions for our community when they were not willing to listen, engage and spend the time to understand what that community needed. So when I stood there and said that those people don't get to make decisions for us. We make our decisions. We know what we need.

That's the moment when I heard my own words and said, Well, who's got to sit at that table then? I guess it got to be one of us! I seriously started to entertain the idea of that position. And, it really felt like the universe conspired, God conspired to help that happen because in that same day, I had two other people come up to me who had attended the event and said, have you ever considered. Running for the role of trustee.

So to hear that come from community members, while I was hearing the needs from my own reflection, that was the moment where I really started to give it serious consideration and start to put the wheels in motion. To make that a success.

I believe that, we're talking about public education, and there are many stakeholders that are affected, that are impacted, that are a part of that, whether we're talking about staff, whether we're talking about the families and parents, but ultimately, it is the students that are receiving the education, it is the students that have the feedback that we need to hear, and I don't believe that I can sit at a desk And review policies and make decisions without understanding and hearing from those

students and those families directly. Sometimes I would say, I'm hearing the student voices through the parents. Because parents are the ones maybe sending the emails, making the phone calls, expressing their experiences, but I make a point of also attending events like our Black Student Showcase that the TDSB sorry, Black Student Alliance Showcase that the TDSB held, a mental health fair held in my ward.

I make a point of attending a number of events where I get to hear from students directly or see them in their element doing what they do directly.

Our community felt that need because of actions that directly impacted our school community, and needed as a healing practice, needed as a political practice, needed as something very tangible. To get out in the streets and make it clear, use their voices and say racism is not something that we will tolerate and we will continue to speak out and we will continue to come together to make sure that those opportunities are there for us equitably.

I'm just staying away from some of that language, but I think that you know what you're getting at are what are those ingredients that set a child up for success within that environment. So when I think about that, I think about obviously the physical building that you're walking into or the physical setting, it doesn't have to be a building per se, but the physical setting that they're walking into that it looks and feels like somewhere you want to be. Is it well maintained? Is it upkept?

Does it have bright colors? Is the environment something appealing to you as you walk into it? Once you're in there, what happens in that environment? I believe the leadership is key. I believe the school leadership really sets the tone for the climate and for the culture. Of that school that there is an air of respect and authority for the people leading, but also an air of respect and authority for the learners in the building.

I can tell a lot I'll tell you now, before this, I'd only been in a limited number of schools, either the schools that I attended growing up in Toronto as a student myself. Or the schools that my daughter had attended. And up until that point, there had only been two. So now, as a trustee, I have the opportunity to do school visits. I go around, I spend time touring the school with the principal, with the staff, with the superintendent.

To understand the building and the challenges and the community better. But I also had the opportunity in June to attend many graduation ceremonies. And even coming in and attending those graduation ceremonies, I can tell you that they all had a very different feel to come in at the end of the year, and to sit together with the staff, the parents, the caregivers, guardians, and the students that have been in that building together, you absolutely get a feel.

For the culture of that school, and for some of them, there was such a palpable sense of community and togetherness and unison and fellowship and respect, that really came through. There were some that had a light and humorous a feeling. So it was an environment where you could tell the staff and the students had really gotten to know each other, on more of a personal level, more of a, I'll say intimate, you know that I mean that in the most professional and correct way.

But to really understand each other and to draw that kind of humor to me, give a sense of family. So when I look at a school, those are the kinds of things that tell me the most. About what's going on in there about how people feel about being in there. And as a result, what they're going to be able to achieve if you feel good. If you're somewhere where you feel like you have a sense of belonging and be who you are, the people here care about you. They are invested in you, the people around you.

Your peers also want to achieve with you. I think those are the things. That set us up for success and those are the things where ultimately we're going to look at that building. We're going to look at what happens and comes out of that building and call it a quote unquote. Good school. They're one of the best schools because we see all of the positive and the success that can come out of it

Within that, I think we see a real push to course correct and achieve more equitable outcomes than we know that we have seen in the past. So we have the data that shows us the graduation rates, the over representation in special education, the under representation in academic programs. We're starting to see the kind of changes.

Like the de streaming of grade nine math directed by the Ministry of Education, but we're also seeing the TDSB itself take on take on the challenge of more equitable outcomes through things like changing how we admit students into specialized programs.

In specialized school programs, starting to make the changes that shift. That kind of participation is what we're seeing from the TDSB. And we're seeing the push back there as well. We have community that thoughts that work that season is long overdue. We have community members that have expressed to us how this has been a benefit. A game changer for their family has created opportunities and alleviated barriers.

That were there before, and then we have other families that push back against this work that see other challenges that don't perceive it in the same way that don't see the need or at least not in these ways to shift those outcomes and to make the changes that we know are necessary to shift those outcomes, right? So there's that work happening, which has its own resistance.

But as I said, I think, the work that happens with the TDSB is one element and it's important, but I think the work that's happening in the community is also so integral. And if I think about the Black Student Success Committee that I was a founding member of, along with other parents, this is exactly the kind of community organization community building that I think has impact. These were, we were.

Parents at the time not part of school council, not part of any kind of formal body but just parents who recognized a need and an opportunity within our community. We have many Black students within our neighborhood and at our school.

At the time we had the blessing of having many Black teachers in the building and a Black administrator, and we thought What a wonderful opportunity for all of us to come together from our different roles and our different skill sets and experiences and put it all together to see what we could now provide that would help support our students locally.

And that rolled out into many different initiatives, the walk against racism that you heard earlier, a number of very enriching culturally relevant. Local educational and arts infused experiences that we put on the advocacy work and the shifts and changes that we were able to affect within the TDSB. And I think, just the example and the modeling of being here in the community, of being people that students know.

Are caring adults that are present that are working in their interest that are advocating for their needs that see them that hear them. I think that work just as important. And we are, I think we're all working toward and hoping for a point that's a true partnership, where that community wealth of wisdom and skills and capacity and heart and willingness comes together with a system that needs to move a system that needs to change.

And I think the hope and I, my, I think my reality where I come from in my thinking is that. Those two need to come together. They need to work collaboratively, but they also need that tension and challenging is what I think creates that movement. So they're equally important. I think we lose out. If we are losing on any of the work for advancement in any of those areas.

They are often working their own job, taking care of their kids, possibly taking care of adults or other family members to, it's a difficult time, I think, to be engaged in politics and things outside of your life, but it's absolutely a necessary one because you're exactly in that life stage where you're being affected by those policy changes and those service changes and things that are happening. For me, I find that I often hear from folks when something has gone wrong.

When there's something they don't like, and I, we all do that. But I think part of the challenge is forging those relationships, the connections and the conversations, not just when things are going wrong for you individually as a family. But when there's an opportunity to add your voice to those larger conversations that are going to impact your community and impact families going forward. So in short answer, how do we get people excited and engaged and being a part of public education?

And, that's a big question. And I think. If we look at participation in the municipal elections in the provincial elections recently, that's a question I think everybody is asking as we see that kind of dwindling participation but for me, that's one of my number one priorities and goals and purposes isn't that community building and building that engagement and understanding of why it's important.

Whether they are in black skin, whether they are indigenous, whether they identify as 2SLGBTQ plus folks for them to be able to wake up in their day and have hope and an expectation that they will move through their day without the barriers that they face. That's what equity feels like to me, I think for too many folks.

They are waking up in the morning getting ready with a feeling of dread, an expectation that there will be something that comes in their way, a feeling of anger lingering from the experiences they've had over the past hours, days, weeks, months, years. Waking up with those feelings tells me that we don't have an equitable system. You asked me what it looks like in the system, I think there are so many things that need to change.

I think it looks like who is standing in the classroom and who is sitting in those offices. What are their experiences? What are their beliefs? What are their commitments? What is the accountability that they know is there in their roles?

Often I say that as a black woman, but there are many other people in their identities and their different intersectional identities who can say the same. Equity looks like what are the programs available at the school in Weston versus the school in Melbourne versus the school in High park.

Even within High Park, Parkdale High Park, my Ward 7 ward, what do the opportunities look like at the south east end of the ward here in Parkdale versus the north west end of the ward at Warren Park and everywhere in between, right? Equity presents and exists in so many different spaces and different ways, but at the end of the day, it's about the experiences that the human being has, how respected they are.

Thank From the moment they walk in to the moment they walk out and the lingering feelings in between.

Sport was a big part of my life growing up and still is as a Masters athlete as a Masters athlete one of the things that I wanted to be able to do in addition to competing myself and to coaching was I really wanted to be able to get back and be a part of the capacity building in the sport world for young people and doing that with girls was just something that really resonated to me again, as a female growing up in in the sport world.

So Fast and Female is a Canadian charity that is dedicated to keeping girls involved in sport and physical activity. Between the ages of nine and 14. This is an age where the evidence tells us that girls drop off the drop out of sports at a much higher rate than boys. I don't have the stats at the tip of my tongue right now. But it's a concern. So there are, know, so many benefits that we get out of sports participation, I think I can attest to this.

Because I can look back and I can directly attribute many of my leadership skills to my involvement in sport. Whether that's the team building, the strategic thinking, the leadership, the strength in using your voice, the health aspects, everything that we derive from sport is so good for young people.

Regardless of their sex, regardless of their gender, if we think about the times that we're in coming through the pandemic, the mental health issues, the health issues that young people are facing, we want our young girls to continue to get the benefits that physical movement, physical activity and organized sport can provide. When they drop out of sport at this age, obviously that trajectory ends and it also affects the capacity for the sport moving forward.

If we think about where do female coaches come from? Where do female officials come from? In the business area of sport and entertainment and all of that development. What does that look like, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, 20 years from now, if we don't have girls participating in sport at this time, so that charity is really focused on keeping them involved, but then also with that equity lens and mindset as well, making sure that it's not just.

Skiers in the western part of the country or swimmers in the eastern part of the country that are getting these opportunities that girls that are newcomers to Canada that hold different racial, ethnic identities again, different gender expressions, sexualities, income levels, education levels, making sure that they are all getting opportunities to participate and to get those benefits and to see themselves As players, pun intended in that field.

Would you talk about the naming of the school and your involvement in that, please?

The school that my daughter attended, the school where the Black Student Success Committee was formed is a school that was previously named Queen Victoria Public School. During our time as a BSSC, Black Student Success Committee we were involved in much of the advocacy that was happening around addressing anti Black racism. And other discriminations and oppressions that we were seeing that the students and the staff were facing in the school.

There was a lot of work happening in a lot of regards and it was hard work. As that activism work, that work of resistance, that work of speaking truth to power, trying to change policies was really heavy. And not always fun work coming together for the Walk Against Racism, again, was something that was important and it had positive elements to it, but it wasn't a celebratory kind of event.

And there were a couple of things going on at the time while we were looking for very real ways to challenge the kind of oppression. That was being faced in that school in that neighborhood. There was also I sensed real need for joy, a reason it felt like the community needed a reason to come together a reason to work on something positive and a reason to a way to create hope. Together.

So as these two things were happening as we were in this place of, doing this really difficult work, but then also recognizing that there was a need for hope. At the same time. We thought wouldn't the renaming of the school be the perfect kind of initiative to address both those things. Here have a highly diverse neighborhood. Full of children that have literally families that come from around the world.

And come largely from places that have been colonized and have been largely impacted by the British rule and by the monarchy and come into physical building that has that name on it has that name infused in it and has all of these experiences happening. We thought that doesn't feel right. When you asked what equity looks like, feels like, sounds that didn't look, feel or sound right.

So here was an opportunity if it wasn't going to be, if we were going to endeavor to rename this and to have a name that was more reflective and representative of the students that actually made up this community and the staff that made up this community. What would that look like? To do that together. So that was the beginning of that initiative and I've lost your question to begin with,

What are the values that are important to this community? What. Would represent this community. If it's not that colonial past and that name, then what is it? What is the hope? What is the future? And I think it was a really important process to come to that together. Some of what we heard that ended up being so significant was a desire for representation, but also for solidarity between different communities that had been marginalized, that had that, that shared that path.

So what we specifically heard was that there needed to be an acknowledgment and a recognition of Indigenous community. And there also needed to be that acknowledgment and representation of Black community at the core, along with all of the other communities and representation that we know that would be uplifted along with that. So that idea of that Afro Indigenous solidarity as an example was something that was really key.

That came out of those conversations and then taking the time to consult with indigenous knowledge keepers and language experts to make sure that we were getting the phrasing, the spelling, the words and the meaning correct as well. And then taking that to the board and having that formalized through approval by the board of trustees. All of that, sorry, all of that was a Two year process that led to the great celebration that you were able to attend, Rita.

Tell us about Debbie King between the ages of 14 to 16.

At junior high and the reason I bring up those three things specifically is because those are three areas where I started to see my advocacy come through when I worked at Chuck E. Cheese. I was automatically made a hostess with all the other girls while all the men, all the boys worked in the kitchen. I question that.

And I landed myself a job in the kitchen, which I couldn't stand playing volleyball, showing up to try out and start to be in a space that allowed me to use my voice to be loud where aggression was welcomed. There was a positive kind of space for aggression and loudness in a way that I hadn't experienced before. And then being in the gifted class in junior high. I quickly found that gifted class was very much segregated from the rest of the school population.

We were doing things like taking our breaks at a separate time. And that wasn't something that sat well with me either. So that was something I spoke up against and was able to change. So all of that to say that 14 to 16 was really it was a time when I started to find, I think, more confidence in my voice, in my opinions, in my perspective, and started to figure out how to move into the spaces that would allow me to use my voice and affect some change in that space.

We really do appreciate it. Rita and I can't thank you enough.