Superintendent Statement on Yearbook Signing

Superintendent Statement on Yearbook Signing
June 23, 2020

As members of our school community know, a very disturbing incident of racism surfaced recently, in which racist and hateful comments were posted in Student Yearbooks on a web platform hosted by Jostens, our Yearbook supplier.

It is important that members of the School Community know that incidents like this are taken extremely seriously and acted on immediately.  I summarized the actions we took at our Board meeting Monday evening ( https://pub-sd61.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=bd2825b4-8277-44cc-b169-1bf4da6599d6&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English ) but want to set them out here so that our community is fully informed of our response.

The School District first became aware there was a concern when a Vice Principal received a phone call Saturday evening, June 6th.  A screen shot of the messages was receive by him close to midnight that night.

The following morning, the Principal was contacted and the Board Administration were made aware of this incident.  A report was made to the police, who began an investigation.  We communicated with Jostens to shut down the website.  That afternoon, all Mount Douglas graduating students were contacted by email about the inappropriate comments, given instructions on how to remove inappropriate posts from their accounts, informing them that an investigation was underway, and asking for any help in identifying the perpetrators.  The Principal was also in contact with a student specifically targeted by these racist attacks and made counselling support available.

The following day, we continued our investigation, notified Safer Schools of the incident, and communicated to the broader parent community about these incidents.  The investigation is being continued by the police, working with Jostens, to identify the authors of these posts.

On June 9, 2020, I joined with our trustees and partner groups expressing on this page our commitment to creating safe and inclusive learning and working environments.  There is no place for hate or intolerance in our schools.  We must continue to work together, as a community, to put an end to such abhorrent conduct.  I hope you will all work with me and with our Board to ensure our School District is a model for others to follow.  Your comments and ideas for moving forward in that way are always welcomed.

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