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HB NEWS STUDENTS PASSIONATE ABOUT CHANGING RULE Continued from page 1 they hire,” said Raghad Ba- rakat, a studentat St. Fran- cis Xavier Secondary School in Milton who dele- gated before the board again on Oct.5. Raghadand other students — in Halton Hills and | ACTOSS the region “We continue to push back against these changes that we should be embracing and welcoming.” back to policy for a more ful: di i boards response to bre ous gatio: ore aioe to review ae pol. icy. “Nothing is stopping us from taking out the policy. It is not in the Constitution for student trustees to be Catholic in a Catholic board. It is well within your right to keep it like although student S al non- binding, they can influence elected trustees in management of the board and therefore form part of the management of the school board. Student trustees are leaders, but they are not staff, argued Barakat. Given that thisissue has come up repeatedly, Bur- lington trustee Brenda Ag- new supported sending it "We have talked about equity and equitable ac- cess to these opportunities and given that wedo haves a significant proportion our studentsin our second. ary system who are not Catholic, I do believe it warrants further conver- sation," said Agnew. Oakville student trustee Katie Bowie suggested a compromise might be to create a leadership role for non-Catholics but not un- der the title of trustee; how- Tr, oted she is wholeheartedly in sup- rt of the delegation. "Please do listen to our students. io know Raghad and the ite as a whole are very passionate about this ... because it is some- thing that is very impor- fant ie our students," said ee Osieville trustee Nancy Guzzo said she is "unsure" why trustees are not listen- - trustee Nancy Guzzo ing to their student body. "We continue to push back against these changes that we should be embrac- i and welcoming I don't understand why sitting here around the table if we oe fuse to listen to what our students have to say and what they're asking us to do, at least for us to explore Vice-chair i Duarte felt trustees should await the result of a cur- rent lawsuit against York Catholic District School rd after a student was denied eligibility for a stu- trustee position, a cet etion shut down by mew. "There's no reason why we can't make a decision that is important for our students, what they have asked for, what we would like to see happen, regard- court system right now," Graham Paine/ Metroland Raghad Barakat is among those pushing to change the rule that excludes non-Catholics from said Agnew. "It's not deniable we have the right to make the decision," commented. kek chair Patrick Mur- y. "That really is not the Oey ion Just because we have the right to make that decision, is it the right deci- sion? - # the right policy? ur student well? Ts tt “equitable? What message is the policy send- ing? Is it consistent with our Catholic teachings?" The role of student trustee is to inform trust- ees through a Catholic lens and if you're not Catholic, serving as student trustees with the Halton Catholic it's more difficult to do that, but if the majority of stu- dent trustees are Catholic, then the board can ensure that happens, he added. e're living in a differ- ent age than when these and rules were estab- tone Nobody had the no- tion that we would attract many non-Catholic stu- dents to our system ... and that's wonderful. port as information. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The Halton Cath- > Dass om WALK-IN & FAMILY CLINIC 905-873-1001 221 Miller Dr., Georgetown GenesisHealthTeam.com District School Board. olic District School Board is being pressured by stu- dents to revise its policy that prevents non-Catho- lics from becoming student trustees, but the board yet to yield. We wanted to how trustees wou! react to students’ Dereis tence as they were con- Fronted with yet another delegation on the subject at e latest board meeting. c Bs scan ms CODE “. (Ocal NERS, a HE INDEPENDENT INH UONEH - Hl CUL | 2 aqowg ‘Aepsuny. |