UGDSB Black student success coordinator hopes to help students feel happier at school

ORANGEVILLE – Black students at some Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) schools now have access to extra support to help them succeed.  

For new Black student success coordinator Shannon Weir, success means “being happy to come to school.”

Weir hopes to help Black students feel more welcome at school and increase their engagement, opportunities and graduation rates. 

Since September, Weir has been connecting with youth and introducing herself to principals, teachers and counsellors. 

She visited 22 schools during her first week, and said students have told her it feels good to see somebody at school who looks like them. And high school students are asking her about scholarships they’re struggling to find information on, Weir said.

Erin District High School’s Black student group met with Weir on Oct. 1 to start developing ideas, and Weir shared information about grants and scholarships. 

UGDSB human rights and equity advisor Alicia Ralph said they’re working on creating a webpage to compile information about local resources and opportunities for Black students.  

Weir knows she won’t be able to fix everything, but hopes she can at least make things “20 or 30 per cent” better. 

Collecting data on measurable targets including graduation and engagement is important and will help inform decisions about how the program develops, Ralph said. 

Weir will initially focus on Dufferin, Erin and Centre Wellington, as it would be too much for one person to stretch across all 78 UGDSB schools, Ralph noted.   

Those were chosen as priority areas because  it’s where the board “sees a gap in support for Black students.” 

Ralph called the new position a “pilot” and said she hopes it will expand into a student success hub that also supports students in Guelph and north Wellington.

“The goal is to expand the program in a meaningful way,” Ralph said.

The role was inspired by a ministry-funded Black graduation coach program, but is catered to better meet the needs of UGDSB students, she said, with Weir’s role being more dynamic and flexible as she will work with students in kindergarten through to Grade 12, not just high school students, and will support them in a wider array of ways.  

Ralph said the role is not informed by anything similar in other boards, but is unique to the UGDSB.  

Weir will focus on transitional periods and youth with intersectional identities that impact their experiences as Black students, and will build and adjust the program as she sees fit to best support students, Ralph said.  

The goal is for Weir to be “visible in the community on predictable days” so students and staff know she is there to support, she added, in schools with higher populations of Black students as well as schools with only a few Black students. 

Weir will be a resource for teachers and principals, helping them understand Black students’ experience and guiding how they support students – that way “students don’t have to advocate on their own behalf,” Ralph said, and staff will be better equipped to respond to their needs. 

Ralph hopes the role will help keep staff engaged in understanding anti-Black racism, noting some of the increased focus on anti-Black racism after George Floyd’s murder has started to dwindle in recent years. 

The new role is not a response to recommendations from a human rights review conducted last year, but has been in the works for four years, Ralph said. The review was helpful in shaping the role and determining what to prioritize, she said, as it identified local needs and gaps.

Weir previously worked in Peel District School Board’s suspension program, and moved to Orangeville about a year ago. She said she did a lot of research before enrolling her daughter in kindergarten, particularly in terms of diversity and racism. 

When she saw the UGDSB job posting for a Black student success coordinator, she thought: “Perfect, I can help her navigate things” and have the opportunity to support other Black students, too.

Weir said she enjoyed school as a student because of connections she made with staff and peers, so she hopes she can be a reason more UGDSB students want to go to school. 

“If students are facing racism and not enjoying school, they’re just going to stay home,” she said. “School should be a fun place.” 

Weir will be supported by the board’s Human Rights, Equity and Accessibility Office, and Ralph will work closely with her.    

“It can be isolating to provide that support,” Ralph said, and the office will support Weir by helping people understand what her role is. 

“The work doesn’t sit with one person,” Ralph said, it sits with “everyone who comes into contact with Black students.”  

Weir said, “Alicia lets me float my ideas and is very supportive and helps me build or expand on it and gives me ideas to make it better.” 

Principals have also been supportive, Weir added, and are welcoming and open to finding solutions. 

Weir has been meeting with community partners, including Streams Community Hub in Shelburne. 

She has not met with the UGDSB Black Parent Council (BPC), an external grassroots group dedicated to advocating for Black UGDSB students, but is open to doing so.

BPC representative and Rockwood resident Nia James said that while the group doesn’t know much about the role, their initial reaction is skepticism, mostly due to the breadth of issues Black UGDSB students face compared to one person’s capacity.

“One person doing this work is almost setting that individual up for failure,” James said.  

The council hopes Weir will be “extremely supported,” in part to avoid burnout,  which is common for Black educators and administrators.

“We want to be very mindful of how we are treating Black bodies in these spaces, particularly regarding the inequitable amount of labour that is put on them in this role,” James said. 

The UGDSB did not share any information with the BPC about the new role, she said.

“We’re hoping that we will get more information moving forward of how this individual, who is brand new to the board, is going to be supported and guided and helped, with a clear description of their role and their responsibility, so that the community can also understand how that person can help them navigate things as well as understand how we can connect with them in order to also support all of the Black students that have clearly been suffering in this board for years.”   

The council also hopes the data collected is easy for the public to access online. 

And James said it’s essential that the Black student success coordinator connect with community groups to understand the issues that they’re already advocating for.