My previous post dealt with the racism-tinged dismissal of a high school principal in Texas. Today's deals with malfeasance of another kind: the unjust treatment of a co-op student who was threatened with suspension and removed from her hospital placement due to her making the "okay' sign in a selfie group photo taken by her teacher.
An anonymous complaint to Hamilton Health Sciences netted this result:
After just a few days in the co-op program, her parents got a call from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board saying she was not to go to the hospital, but should come in to the school for a meeting instead.
Her dad went with her for that meeting. They were told she was being removed from her placement because someone had complained about her hand sign. And she was in jeopardy of being suspended.
“They said it was a racist sign,” says Megan. “I didn’t know.”
Despite her protestations of ignorance, the Board ignored the opportunity for it to be, as they like to say, "a teachable moment."
An email from school board spokesperson Shawn McKillop says: “A community member noticed an unacceptable symbol in a social media post and reported it to HWDSB and program partner, Hamilton Health Sciences. The symbol, which can be interpreted as promoting hate, does not align with HWDSB’s commitment to equity and inclusion. Symbols of hate that promote racism or white supremacy ideology are not tolerated in HWDSB or anywhere in our community. The image was immediately taken down.”
As you might imagine, the public has reacted with outrage, as a sampling of letters-to-the-editor demonstrate.:
No safety or respect for my daughter
First, I would like to say Susan Clairmont wrote an excellent column on my daughter and it raises a lot of issues (which was the point).
How can someone who is faceless, nameless, hiding behind a computer claim they are offended over something so innocently done invoke such a heavy handed outcome? Just like to point out a couple of more facts here, that neither HHSC or HWDSB spoke to my daughter, and that they said she “purposely” placed the hand sign in the pictures. Wendy Stewart from HHSC claims “everyone behaves in a manner that ensures everyone at HHSC feels respected, safe and welcome.” Yet they had no problem calling my daughter a racist, white supremacist. My daughter and my family sure feel respected and safe from these clowns.
Punishment is over the top
This is completely unfair in my opinion. The student in question said she did not know that the OK sign was now considered offensive. I am a senior citizen, and I had no idea! So I accept that she did not. I thought people were innocent until proven guilty. This was a teachable moment, she was informed that it is considered unacceptable to use this sign, she expressed remorse, and that should have been the end of it. It is also a teachable moment for the HWDSB to make sure that when they assign placements, they should diligently go over the employment policies of the businesses they are sending students to. And also the responsibility of the businesses to clearly outline their HR policies to students (or any new hires) that they have. White supremacy is not something we should ever condone, but this was a very poor way of expressing that.
Sharon McKibbon, Hamilton
Put her back in the program
With regards to your article about the young girl being removed from her co-op, this is the first time that I heard the OK sign meant white power. I have been using it for the past 78 years to mean OK and I still use it to mean OK, and so do most of the people that I know. This young girl should be put back into her co-op program and receive an apology from whom ever removed her from it.
We need a list of acceptable signs
Could The Spectator please provide us, who don’t see hate in a symbol like the “OK” sign, with a list of socially unacceptable signs? I understand the “Hitler salute” as being unacceptable because in our country, it has always been unacceptable, but the OK sign? If the picture had not been included in the article, I still wouldn’t have known how the “OK” sign would be considered racist.
The damage HHS and HWDSB have done to this young student is reprehensible! Instead of taking this opportunity to educate everyone (myself included) in a positive way, you made it punitive and the only one who suffered was the student. Shame on you! Hopefully, HHS and HWDSB will recognize the error of their ways and not only apologize for how you handled the situation but also reinstated the student back into the program; if they still choose to participate.
Kathi Howes-Jones, Hamilton
Am I absolutely positive the girl is innocent in this case? No one can know for certain, but it seems to me that the rush to judgement with no real opportunity for Megan Breeze to defend herself is at the crux of the matter. Due process, it would seem, exists only when the political winds allow it.
Such are the times in which we live.
