Camille Williams-Taylor back on home turf as Durham public school board Director of Education
December 11, 2022
Durham region is home to Camille Williams-Taylor even though she has been in Ottawa the last four years as the public school board’s Director of Education.
The innovative leader and accomplished learner is returning to her base in a similar role with the Durham District School Board (DDSB).
The Board employs 7,000 teaching and educational services staff covering 136 elementary and secondary schools and learning centres with more than 75,000 students.
“We know that Camille has the skills and experience to lead the DDSB out of the pandemic, continue to build a culture of collaborative leadership across the District and create an environment that puts the well-being of employees and students first,” said Board of Trustees Chair Carolyn Morton.
Williams-Taylor, who is bilingual, became aware of the opening when Norah Marsh, a colleague, announced last May she was retiring.
“Naturally, there were a few people who asked me if I thought about it which I did,” she said. “However, I really gave it some serious thought when the position was posted.”
Having a family home in Durham where her parents and extended family reside was a big lure for Williams-Taylor who joined the DDSB in 2011 as its first Black Superintendent.
During her seven years with the Board, the Employee Services unit was rebranded, a French Immersion Public School in north Ajax bearing the name of Canada’s first Black Governor General, Michaelle Jean, was opened and an equity and diversity strategic framework was unveiled.
Williams-Taylor is returning to a Board that has had some challenges recently.
In October, a video surfaced of a teacher using a racial slur in the presence of students at Viola Desmond Public School in Ajax.
As she prepares to take up her new role, Williams-Taylor said communicating expectations is essential.
“We have to ensure that those that are engaged with our students understand what the District stands for and what the expectations for engagement with students and the community are,” she said. “While training is important, we need to model, support and ensure that the students in our classrooms are receiving the tools they need that reflect their voices. It is also vital not just to educate the adults and educators, but students around what they should deserve and expect in their classrooms. They have the capacity to raise their voices. We can learn a lot from our kids.”
Last May, DDSB Trustees approved its Human Rights Policy that, Williams-Taylor said, sets a standard for expectations.
“In Ottawa, we went down that same road not too long ago and I have had a look at the policy passed by the DDSB that sets expectations for what it is the Board is committed to and what stakeholders are expected to engage in and uphold,” she said. “On one side, it gives us a responsibility and accountability to ensure that we provide the resources, support, direction and modelling to uphold that standard. On the other side, it allows us to look at behaviours that deviate from that standard and to be able to measure and hold accountable. It lends itself to accountability on all sides for what it is we owe our students and are responsible for in our school community.”
Data from the DDSB earlier this year revealed that students in the de-streamed Grade Nine Math course are achieving the provincial standard of at least 70 per cent.
A year ago, the provincial government announced it would cease academic streaming for Grade 9 courses.
In the past, far too many Black students were guided to essential and applied courses of study instead of being offered opportunities to participate in academic programs.
“While we have a lot of support for that direction, we also have to look at the data and see how many students are being directed or choosing courses that may be applied,” she said. “We have to look at those not just in big numbers but in granularity. We need to find out who is picking, why are they picking the applied courses and how do we ensure that parents and families understand what those pathways are because they are the ones that sign off on some of these pieces.
“We want to encourage these adults to ask questions about the choices their children are making going into high school. Educating guidance counsellors and student success teachers around how to engage with families about those pathways is also important. At the end of the day, our job is not to tell young people what those possibilities are and should not be, but rather how to get there.”
A year after Williams-Taylor arrived in Ottawa, the public school board developed the Indigenous, Equity & Human Rights Roadmap that offers a pathway for change.
“Just recently, the team that worked on this took us on a road trip for us to look at the milestones that we had achieved over the last three years with that strategic plan,” she said. “It made us realize that even though we had lots of disruptions that were not anticipated, we have been able to do a lot of work to ensure that students see themselves in the classroom. We still have much work to do, but we have done a lot to try to close gaps for students and help those who experience life on the margins to experience success in our schools. We have learned, we have changed, we are removing barriers and we are becoming more aware of the strategic work we have to do make sure all kids are experiencing the most positive opportunities in our schools.”
After completing an undergraduate degree in English & History at the University of Manitoba, Williams-Taylor enrolled in the federally-funded Official-Languages Monitor Program established in 1973 to promote Canada’s two official languages and the cultures they convey by encouraging young people to make their language and culture known to students in a region other than their own.
She spent a year in Saint-Quentin, a small town in northern New Brunswick, helping the neighbouring community high school teacher provide authentic English opportunities to students while learning French.
At the end of that assignment, Williams-Taylor did a six-month French language skills program at Universite Laval in Quebec City.
Back in Winnipeg after being away for 18 months, she worked to earn funds to attend McGill University’s Faculty of Education and secure her teacher certification. She taught for two years in Winnipeg before coming to the Greater Toronto Area in 1991.
Declared surplus after a year with the Peel Region District School Board, Williams-Taylor taught for seven years with the City of York prior to amalgamation, became a Vice-Principal in North York and was a Principal for a decade in Scarborough schools.
Seconded to the Ministry of Education literacy & numeracy secretariat, she helped develop new teachers as a seconded Course Director for York University’s Faculty of Education urban diversity program before joining the DDSB as a senior executive in 2011.
When Williams-Taylor went to Ottawa four years ago, she was just the third Black Director of Education in the province after the late Harold Brathwaite who broke the colour line in Peel in 1994 and Dr. Avis Glaze who was with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board from 2002 to 2004.
Today, there are eight racialzed Directors of Education in Ontario.
The flurry of racialized hirings do not surprise Glaze who is a renowned thought leader.
“We have always had an abundance of talent in the African Canadian community,” she pointed out. “I am delighted to see it being recognized in educational leadership. It is important for the young people in our schools to see the results of excellent credentials, hard work, dedication and tenacity. Those who achieve have an obligation to mentor, develop others and build community.”
Williams-Taylor assumes her new role in early January.
