An ongoing review of school policies by the Richmond School Board will soon include the likes of corporate sponsorship and human rights, including sexual orientation.
The board is endeavoring to update many outdated policies, which may or may not change following the review.
The board’s policy committee chair, school trustee Dr. Eric Yung, told the Richmond News the board has already reviewed several policies and will continue to do so over the next year.
A review that will require sit-down discussions among trustees and the broader community concerns the district’s policy on commercialism, noted Yung.
“It’s being worked on right now. It’s horribly out of date, but it hasn’t been debated in front of the board,” said Yung.
The district’s commercialism policy was last updated in May 1993, when there was more taxpayer-backed funding for public schools.
Yung said one of the drivers leading to a review of this policy is lower funding by the provincial government since that time.
The policy states, no for-profit company or organization may involve a school in promoting its product or service unless the principal approves of it, believing there is “overriding value” for students.
This may, for example, apply to allowing certain branded vending machines in schools.
As well, companies are not allowed to publicize their activities in schools.
The existing policy states, “The board believes that an adequate level of funding should be provided from tax revenues” and “in no case should exploitation of students be permitted.”
Yung said he would expect such an overarching philosophy to remain in Richmond.
“We need to insulate (students) from any commercial entity,” he said.
However, Yung said given the financial burdens placed on schools, a policy on sponsorships will be looked at.
“At what point is a sponsorship OK, and when is it not?” asked Yung.
He noted Richmond has no policy on the board reviewing an issue such as Chevron offering money to schools via gas purchases — something that Vancouver’s district has denied but others in the Lower Mainland have accepted.
“We have no policy about this. Is it good or bad? And that’s what we’ll need to talk about,” said Yung, noting the review will take up to a year’s time.
Richmond School District communications manager, David Sadler, said Chevron did make an offer last year but it didn’t reach the board due to the existing policy.
Meantime, the board is also reviewing its code of conduct.
“Much of it is just common sense . . . We have to fulfill the requirements of the BC Human Rights Code,” said Yung.
Richmond is one of a minority of school districts in B.C. to not have an explicit policy for non-cisgender and homosexual students.
The district does, however, recognize “the diverse cultural, linguistic and ethnic nature of the Richmond community” in its district philosophy.
Speaking personally as a trustee, Yung said recognizing culture and ethnicity is important given the demographic diversity of Richmond. When it comes to sexual orientation or gender issues, Yung said he was inclined not to teach kids to identify one another in such a manner.
“I don’t want to teach target identification,” said Yung.
On the flip side, trustee Sandra Nixon has been pushing for more explicit language to better protect non-cisgender and homosexual students.
Another notable policy that has been affected by time is regarding technology. The News asked Yung how the board views cell phone use in schools.
Yung said individual schools generally create their own policies on such use. When asked about cell phones being used for teaching purposes, Yung said “there cannot be a situation where there are have and have-nots.”
He noted the district has provided each school with a cart of tablets so each student can use one, regardless of their financial situation.
The board has also worked to update its policy on administering medications — trained elementary teachers are expected to be able to assist younger students with prescribed medication, Yung said.
More recently, the board also updated its policy on video surveillance to meet privacy standards.
