Michael Zwaagstra: We Need to Actually Put Students First
Commentary
Visit any major school board’s website, and you will find plenty of lip service to putting students first. But you won’t often see it in practice.
For example, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) in southern Ontario recently released its new strategic plan. The plan’s key feature is an inverse organizational chart which puts students at the top and administrators at the bottom.
Apparently, this is supposed to send a clear message that WRDSB puts students first.
However, the gesture is totally meaningless. Students in WRDSB do not have the ability to hire and fire the director of education, nor can they decide what time they want the school day to begin….