Israelite PRIDE Follow up with Charline Grant

Written by: Charline Grant

Edited by: Kai Jackson

Israelite PRIDE was fortunate to follow up with Charline Grant regarding her November 19th parent forum meeting with her son's school board. Charline was first featured earlier this month when we learned about the unfair treatment Ziphion, who is in the 5th grade, experienced at his French immersion school. (Click Here To Read Part 1 of Charline/Ziphion’s story)

Charline excitingly reported, "The parent forum was great! Black parents and the black education group in the York region district school organized it. The York region is one of the best district school boards in Ontario and has scored the highest in the province each year on the provincial wide test."

Charline explained, "They are the first in the country to implement an ethnic focus group to find out why black students don't do as well in school. The director of the board was there, the superintendent, teachers, etc. All who attended wanted to hear ideas on how to teach black students and how they can be of assistance to parents."

During the forum parents were invited to share their stories, both the good and the bad. "This was good to hear," Charline explained with excitement. "I learned a lot. A lot of ideas were shared of which I would like to share with Israelite PRIDE as well as other parents within the Nation."

Charline further stated, "I was so impressed to see how many black parents were out so early on a Saturday morning to share their stories about education as well as to listen and learn on how to better serve our black children. It was well organized and it was also a great opportunity to network with other parents and administrators that share the same interests which is to be advocates for our children."

Charline collected numerous business cards and contact information from individuals that were in attendance to further continue the discussion. She also hopes to network with these organizations to implement the, "In the Mind of a Child" program in the district as part of Black History Month. “In the Mind of a Child” is a highly acclaimed stage play written by Elder Shadrock Porter, which tells the story of the historic struggle for freedom of Afro-Americans told through the eyes of school age children.

Overall, it was a very rewarding experience for Charline who realized, "I'm not alone in my fight."