GUELPH – Throughout the month of June, the Upper Grand District School Board (UGDSB) will be celebrating Pride Month, both at the board and school levels and in the community.
To start off the celebrations, schools and offices across the UGDSB raised the Pride Flag on June 1 as a sign of support and celebration – but it doesn’t stop there.
The board’s equity and inclusion lead Jessica Rowden said while raising the Pride flag is an important step, the board recognizes the importance of moving past performative and superficial measures towards deeper learning in order to generate representation in learning spaces.
“Flying the Pride flag itself is incredibly symbolic, and we have heard from so many folks who are students, who are parents, who are staff about how that symbolism impacts a sense of belonging to them as they come to our spaces for learning,” Rowden said.
“But we also know flying the flag can be performative if that’s where it stops.
“So, it’s always been an increased expectation every single year in our school board that the flag is symbolic of the learning and the centring of folks who are 2SLGBTQIA in the school during the month of June and all year long.”
Rowden said in addition to the raising of the flag, it is the work, learning and disruption of oppression that goes with it across spaces in the board that means the most.
She added as the board progresses each year, it is increasing expectations for its systems to deliver on safety, belonging and knowledge in order to provide additional learning and capacity building and increase support within the community.
“There’s a momentum that’s really important for us to be accountable for this work by way of providing the learning and the supports to schools so that they’re accountable for making sure educators and students receive that learning as well,” Rowden said.
“A big message that we hear back from a lot of the staff and students who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA community is really that message that the work can’t stop at superficial or performative measures.”
In response, the board is working to balance the importance of recognizing oppression and the need for social justice work, while also celebrating current efforts in the community.
Moving forward, the next steps for the board will be to bring back in-person celebrations, currently on pause due to the pandemic, in addition to continuing to move into a space of ensuring people who have made contributions are at the forefront of conversations and shown as examples of excellence.
The board is also working to address oppressive histories and current realities of people who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA community.
“We are really dedicated to making sure that anything that what we do as a board centres the voice and centres the experience of people who are a part of those communities,” Rowden explained.
She also noted the board is not making decisions on its own – it receives feedback from student experiences in addition to a staff advisory group.
“Flying the flag is incredibly important because it’s symbolic of a long fight that is still not over for rights and freedoms,” she explained.
“But we really want to make sure that its coupled with worthy intentional learning that addresses issues as they stand with intentional language and intentional movement and that we want honour all of that with some celebration of the great excellence and the great contributions of the 2SLGBTQIA community.”
