in si de ha lto n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, O ct ob er 14 ,2 02 1 | 2 At Village Orthodontics in Oakville, we specialize in beautiful smiles using clear aligners and traditional braces. New Patients Welcome Schedule your complimentary consultation today! 647-496-1424 2-2983 Westoak Trails Blvd. Oakville villageortho.ca Book your Personalized Smile Consultation today 1276 Cornwall Road, Unit C, Oakville Ontario, L6J 7W5 T: 905-845-0767 • F: 905-845-5552 •www.haxelllaw.com • lawyers@haxelllaw.com Personal Professional Service at Competitive Rates Buying? Selling? Re Call us for a quote at 905-845-0767 ext. 223Jameson Glas GOLDGOLD 905-845-0767 ext. 223Jameson Glas they hire," said Raghad Ba- rakat, a student at St. Fran- cis Xavier Secondary School in Milton who dele- gated before the board again on Oct. 5. Raghad and other students -- in Oak- ville and across the region -- were disappointed in the board's response to previ- ous delegations and a prom- ise to review the policy. "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 that; however, nothing is stop- ping you from changing it," she said. HCDSB's reasoning is that although student trustees' votes are non- binding, they can influence elected trustees in the man- agement 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 this issue has come up repeatedly, Bur- lington trustee Brenda Ag- new supported sending it back to policy for a more fulsome discussion. "We have talked about equity and equitable access to these opportunities and given that we do have a sig- nificant proportion of our students in our secondary system who are not Catho- lic, I do believe it warrants further conversation," 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- ever, she noted she is "wholeheartedly in support of the delegation. "Please do listen to our students. I know Raghad and the senate as a whole are very passionate about this ... because it is some- thing that is very important to our students," said Katie. Oakville trustee Nancy Guzzo said she is "unsure" why trustees are not listen- ing to their student body. "We continue to push back against these changes that we should be embrac- ing and welcoming ... I don't understand why we're all sitting here around the ta- ble if we refuse to listen to what our students have to say and what they're asking us to do, at least for us to ex- plore ..." Vice-chair Marvin Duarte felt trustees should await the result of a current lawsuit against York Cath- olic District School Board after a student was denied eligibility for a student trustee position, a sugges- tion shut down by Agnew. "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- less of what is happening with another board in the court system right now," said Agnew. "It's not deniable we have the right to make the decision," commented board chair Patrick Mur- phy. "That really is not the question. Just because we have the right to make that decision, is it the right deci- sion? Is it the right policy? Does it serve our students well? Is it equitable? What message is the policy send- ing? Is it consistent with our Catholic teachings?" The role of student trust- ee is to inform trustees through a Catholic lens and if you're not Catholic, it's more difficult to do that, but if the majority of student trustees are Catholic, then the board can ensure that happens, he added. "We're living in a differ- ent age than when these laws and rules were estab- lished. Nobody had the no- tion that we would attract so many non-Catholic stu- dents to our system ... and that's wonderful." In the end, trustees agreed to receive the report as information. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The Halton Cath- 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 has yet to yield. We wanted to see how trustees would react to students' persis- tence as they were confront- ed with yet another delega- tion on the subject at the latest board meeting. NEWS Continued from page 1 Raghad Barakat is among those pushing to change the rule that excludes non-Catholics from serving as student trustees with the Halton Catholic District School Board. Graham Paine/Metroland STUDENTS PASSIONATE ABOUT CHANGING RULE SCAN FOR MORE Scan this code for more local news.