Members of the committee looking into whether the Toronto District School Board should gather racial data say there's only one sure thing they can expect from the task at hand -- a lot of controversy.
"I don't think it's possible to avoid controversy on this issue," said Carol Tator, an anthropology professor at York University and member of the newly appointed advisory committee on student achievement.
"I am not afraid of controversy. It comes whenever you have to make such a decision."
The committee, announced last week, is expected to spend between six months and one year analyzing the most effective ways of gathering racial data, should the board decide to proceed. Prof. Tator is one of the 21 scholars and community leaders chosen by the board to study the issue and make recommendations.
The raging debate over data collection culminated in the school board deciding last November -- in a narrow 11-10 vote -- to appoint a committee to consider whether it should gather racial data. Proponents said doing so could help educators see whether specific groups were having academic problems, and come up with ways to help them. Detractors expressed fears that the study could lead to racism and discrimination within schools.
"We've been surveyed to death," said Roger Obonsawin, a member of the committee and president of the Aboriginal Peoples Council of Toronto. "It won't make any difference if it doesn't lead to practical results."
For this reason, before accepting the offer to become a member of the committee, Mr. Obonsawin asked the school board to appoint a manager of aboriginal programs to oversee that any data collected are used properly.
Harold Brathwaite, former education director of the Peel District School Board, has been appointed chair of the committee.
"We're trying to identify factors that impact the success of students," said Mr. Brathwaite, adding that the committee will also look at issues of gender, ethnicity, mother tongue, place of residence and socio-economic status.
He said the members of the community will have a chance to air their views about the controversial subject.
In the past, the Toronto school board has collected race-based statistics to help create programs to keep students from dropping out. One such program was Black Achievers, where black students were linked with volunteers to learn study skills and receive counselling.
The board stopped collecting the data when it was amalgamated in 1998.
This time around, past surveys of Toronto high-school students will likely be used as reference. In 1997, students were asked such things as what awards they received and whether they enjoyed school. They were sorted by cultural and racial groups, gender and parents' occupation.
"It stopped because of Mike Harris," Ms. Tator said. "There was no anti-racism initiative. Even if the board wanted to subversively gather data, they didn't have the resources."
The role of the advisory committee is to give thoughtful discussion on the prospect of continuing race-based statistics collection, Mr. Brathwaite said.