Student 'challenges' with diversity, inclusion to be addressed by Colonel Gray staff during extra PD day

Students at Colonel Gray High School in Charlottetown will be getting an extra day off Dec. 11, an email sent to parents late Thursday afternoon said. 

In the email, Dominique Lecours, the school's principal, said the extra PD day was prompted by "many challenges" the school has faced this fall and the need to find another approach to what she called, a "supportive and inclusive learning environment." 

The challenges she was referring to in her email are related to diversity, Lecours said in an interview with CBC. 

She said about a third of the school's population is international, with students coming from many different religious and cultural backgrounds.

"There's conflicts between students, there's conflict between students and staff. So it's for us to help students navigate a much more complex world, much more complex than when I was in school myself," Lecours said. 

Education Minister Brad Trivers — whose department approved the extra professional development day — said the aim is to help align student expectations with those of teachers. 

These contribute to challenges for bus drivers, custodians, teachers — right across the board.— Brad Trivers, minister of education

"It is a diverse school and that's definitely a part of it. What we're finding in all our schools, in definitely the urban areas, English as an additional language is a much bigger program. There's also many more students, it seems, that require special needs resources," he said. 

"These contribute to challenges for bus drivers, custodians, teachers — right across the board."

Avoiding conflict 

Lecours said representatives from the Public Schools Branch will be at the school on the day, along with a representative from the Public Service Commission who specializes in inclusion.

They will work with staff ranging from teachers to bus drivers to cleaners with the aim of equipping them with tools to better help students and avoid conflict, she said.

An assembly is planned once students return to school the next day, where the issues will be discussed with them. 

Though Colonel Gray is getting an extra day to address the issues, Lecours said that doesn't mean that other schools don't also experience problems surrounding diversity and inclusion.

Lecours said she just happened to be the principal to go to the department and ask for a day to work on the problem.

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