jeewan chanicka is Waterloo District School Board new Director of Education
July 26, 2021
York Region District School Board (YRDSB) administrator Sharon Moss knew she was hiring a gem after her first interview with jeewan chanicka 18 years ago.
“His equity lens was very well developed and he brought a passion to his work that I had not seen in a very long time,” she recalled.
When the time came to evaluate chanicka after his first year of teaching, Moss summoned the Superintendent to discuss the evaluation.
“I had never given a new teacher an excellent rating,” said the York University Faculty of Education Practicum Facilitator. “The Superintendent knew his work both in the classroom and beyond and agreed with my assessment. I knew then that jeewan would elevate teaching and learning wherever he chose to serve.”
Through educators and community members in Waterloo, chanicka learnt that the public school board in southwestern Ontario was seeking a Director of Education.
With the application deadline just a week away and with added encouragement from racialized leaders in the province, he threw his hat in the ring.
chanicka’s application, submitted a few hours before the competition deadline, resonated with Trustees who announced his appointment on June 28.
Joanne Weston, the Chair of the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) of Trustees, said chanicka brings a deep commitment to building strong relationships with students, staff and the community and fostering collaboration across the system to advance student achievement and wellbeing.
“His experience leading equity and anti-oppression initiatives across Ontario and internationally will advance our commitment to providing educational excellence to all our students, each and every one,” she added.
Moss said any Board is fortunate to have chanicka as their Director.
“I believe jeewan’s early career serving communities and advocating for marginalized and underserved people helped to shape his commitment to ensuring every child reaches their goal in a system that provides the proper supports to meet their needs,” she added. “He is one of the smartest people I have had the privilege of working with. He’s multi-talented and thrives on learning from and with others. He will lead with grace and skill.”
International Education Advisor Dr. Avis Glaze said chanicka will push the boundaries to ensure success for all students, regardless of their background or personal circumstances.
“jeewan is a knowledgeable and action — and — result-oriented,” she said. “He has experience in improving student achievement in challenging circumstances. In his leadership, he pursues both excellence and equity. He knows what works.”
With a wealth of experience, having served as a Superintendent, Principal and Curriculum Developer in the last two decades, chanicka is pleased that the Trustees were open to his ideas and thinking.
“It seems they really want to be responsive to what their communities have been saying,” he noted. “There is an opportunity for some real innovation and transformation that will allow all children to be successful. School systems are yet to do this well for under-served and marginalized students. Initiatives don’t lead to systemic change over time. We need something that’s sustainable that allows us to close the gap.”
Seeing how identities, including race, gender, religion and ability and their intersections have been ignored by the educational system to the detriment of marginalized students has led chanicka to advocate for more inclusive classrooms.
“We can’t expect children to succeed when there’s no road map for their success,” he said. “We know that kids who are in the gap are over-represented based on their social identities. In the business world, the same losses over a sustained period of time wouldn’t be accepted. For some reason, that’s the reality in education. For things to change, we have to help kids to be able to see themselves being able to be successful as they are. We still have to help them navigate the bodies they are living in so that people can actually hear what they have to say. We need people to see the wholeness of the child and for them to be able to grow up and be beautiful and successful.”
chanicka is joining a school board that acknowledges that racism and racial harassment exist in the education sector and in its own board.
The WRDSB has established an Indigenous, Equity & Human Rights Department and, early last month, it hired three Superintendents of Student Achievement and Well Being who bring strong equity leadership capacity grounded in social justice, anti-racism and anti-oppression.
Della Lataille-Herdsman, who is Black, was the Principal at Hickory Wood Public School in Brampton, Crissa Hill is Mi’kmaq with roots in Sipekne’katik First Nation and Pam Kaur is South Asian.
“What is interesting from my standpoint is that you are seeing a Board and a group of Trustees that are making the right moves,” said chanicka who was a 2015 Pan American Games torchbearer. “They have made an acknowledgment ,that’s a good first step and they are putting in place leaders. A strategic planning process will be rolled out in the next few months. At the heart of that will be going into communities, listening to what residents are saying and coming up with appropriate responses.”
In mid-April, the Board launched its first-ever Student Census to get a better grasp of the cultural, social and demographic diversity of the student population.
The Board serves almost 64,000 students in 121 schools.
“The good thing about having data is that it provides us with a baseline and, in so doing, gives us the ability to work through it,” chanicka, who has three children, said.
Born in Calgary, his parents took him to Trinidad & Tobago at age four when they returned home. He spent 15 years in the twin-islands republic, graduating from Saint Mary’s College, before returning to Canada to pursue higher education.
Growing up with parents and grandparents who valued education inspired chanicka’s passion for learning.
“We lived in an urban area and my grandmother frequently had young Black and Brown children, who resided in far away rural areas, stay at our home so they could attend school,” he pointed out. “My mother always reminded me that no matter how brilliant I am, I needed the letters behind my name because society wouldn’t acknowledge my brilliance otherwise. As I went on in my career, I was drawn to education.”
chanicka’s father, Robert Chanicka, passed away earlier this year. He went to Alberta to pursue his Master’s degree before returning to T & T in the early 1980s.
The eldest of six children was unable to attend the funeral because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
“My dad was a passionate Geography teacher,” his son said. “He would get lost in talking to you about the clouds, the sky or water. He was committed to the kids he taught and he loved education with his heart and soul. He was also the kind of person who couldn’t stand seeing someone suffering without trying to help them.”
After finishing his undergraduate degree in Negotiations & Bargaining at York University in 2000, chanicka completed his teaching degree at the University of Toronto Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and a Master’s in Education Risk & Resiliency.
Before joining York Region District School Board, he split four years working as an Early Childhood Education Assistant and an Adult Literacy tutor and was a Learning Partnership (Canada) Program Counsellor helping young people from underserved communities re-engage in schooling.
chanicka taught at Ashton Meadows, Armadale and Donald Cousens public schools before being appointed Vice-Principal at Parkland in 2010. After nearly three years, he was promoted to Principal and assigned to Aldergrove.
In 2015, he went to the Ontario Ministry of Education as an Education Officer in the Inclusive Education branch and, two years later, was elevated to Central Coordinating Principal for Equity & Achievement. After six months, he was appointed the Toronto District School Board’s first Superintendent of Equity, Anti-Racism & Anti-Oppression & Learning Network.
In two years in that role, chanicka successfully supervised 13 school leaders directly and supported over 4,000 students.
Two years ago, he assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer/Superintendent of the Next Generation School in Dubai where he was responsible for leading and developing the blueprint for a global network of schools.
chanicka has consulted with the United Nations University of Peace as part of a team to develop a curriculum framework on Peace Education in the Islamic context and, in 2019, was recognized as one of the 14 TED Ed Innovative Educators from around the world. He delivered his talk at the TED Summit in Scotland later that year.
An advocate for social justice, it’s not uncommon to see chanicka at a public rally protesting Islamophobia or at a convention inspiring workers affected by racism, colonialism and other systems of oppression.
“Coming from the Muslim tradition, we are taught that when you see something wrong, correct it with your hands or with your tongue or hate it in your heart,” he said. “The latter is the weakest sign of faith. There have been people who along the way have intentionally tried to silence me or tell me to ‘know my place’. It has been daunting at times because not everyone is ready for some of the brave conversations that need to be had if we want to change things. This means, of course, keeping what works and maintaining success for those who are already successful. At the same time, we need to change things so all students can be successful. I believe we are at a moment, a turning point, where more people want to do better. I am grateful for that and for the work of so many community and grassroots groups that have helped us to get to this point.”
Never one to take all the credit for his achievements, chanicka said his parents, step-parents, grandparents and educators, including Moss, Avis Glaze, Cecil Roach, Vicki Bismilla, Rashmi Swarup, Rummana Viriji and the late Vilma Daley all contributed to his ascendancy.
“I wouldn’t be here had it not been for these mentors, elders, great friends, family and community members who have supported me along the way,” said the 2017 Mary Samuels Educational Leadership Award winner. “Some supported me so I could continue to invest time and energy into doing this work. Many of them saw in me, at times, more than I saw in myself and they always demanded the highest and best of me. They taught me we lift as we climb and now I get to continue this as I move along. What matters to me the most is that we systemically change outcomes for the most marginalized and underserved students in a culture of innovation that will help students rise to their highest potential and be ready for life in the 22nd century.”
The idea of styling his name in lower case was inspired by American educator and social activist bell hooks.
“I also did it because I was trying to think about how I can de-centre myself as part of the collective effort of the work that we need to do to help our kids be successful,” chanicka said. “I taught English and I know it’s grammatically incorrect. I however say you have to learn the rules to know when they don’t work anymore.”
