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16 uw = 5 kville Beaver | Thursday, April 6, 2023 Continued from page 1 ondary students in the Catholic board identify as Roman Catho- lic, that 81.7 per cent of second- ary students say they feel "quite 3 or very safe at school," and that insidehalton.com 95.3 per cent of elementary par- ents agree their child feels they belong at school. wie, a Grade 12 stu- dent at Oakville's St. Ignatius of Loyola and the chair of the stu- dent senate, said she believes the census largely revealed that students at the board feel safe and that their identity is reflect- — but there are exceptions. "Generally, it was very posi- tive. You know, especially com- ing out of COVID. I was glad to see that the majority of our stu- dents feel that they belong in our schools, they feel safe, they feel welcomed, they feel like staff listens to them. And I think all of those things were really good to see. But of course, it highlighted some specific vul- nerable populations in our board," said Bowie. le the census revealed 81.7 per cent of the overall sec- ondary HCDSB population agrees with the statement "I feel quite to very safe at school," that percentage drops dramatically for some minority groups. For example, only 41.8 per cent of gender fluid and 72.4 per cent of Black secondary school respon- dents to the census agreed with that statement. The group with the highest percentage of people who agreed with that statement were those who identify as male. "The results are very positive, and | think that’s reflective of a lot of the amazing work that's done at our board. But we want to get those numbers as high as possible," ~ Katie Bowie Bowie has been a student at the HCDSB for 14 years and be- lieves the census results are re- flective of what she has seenand heard over that tim "Thad a really ‘positive expe: rience here for my entire tim school, and I would say that 2 majority of my peers did, but wi have to recognize that those are different for those specific mm nority populations there's reasons for that, " said Bowie. “Ideally, we want that number to be 100 per cent. The results are very positive, and I think that's reflective of a lot of the amazing work that's done at our board. But we want to get those numbers as high as possi- ble." The census also collected identity data on students in a number of categories. Some HCDSB Student Census Sexual Orientation Among HCDSB Percentage of HCDSB secondary students of with the Straight/heterosexual 8: B Not sure Lesbian statement 'I feel quite to very safe at school’ HCDSB Overall lack East Asian atino/Latina iddle Eastem uth Asian ‘Southeast Asian White ‘Additional Racial Groups Gay Additional sexual orientations iW 10% * Respondents options therefore total percentage may be more than 100% could choose multiple ‘Source: 2022 Leave Your Mark Student Census highlights j noe that the larg- in for students at the Soard Hits $ listed as Canadi- an (46.8 per cent for elementary and 87.6 per cent for secondary) with the second most common being Italian (15.1 per cent for el- ementary and 14.8 per cent for secondary students). The most common race stu- dents identified as was white, with 58.8 per cent of secondary students identifying The second most common rac secondary students identified as was South Asian at 11.7 per ¥ Patient Counsellin: 5 ppreta.D ¥ Home Nisits / Consul Fi se v Free Nutrition ¢ 1 Counselling / Vaccinations v Cholesterol, atc, | Always H re. to: SHOPPERS Help re ped You! ae RANGO | PHA\ MACY INC..| LANDSCAPING C+ BA WAW ad aL) o) oX-Ta-tel atts lait-la meot-| Bom in Canada Bom oy/Man ender Fluid irl/ Woman, Additional Gender identities Metroland graphic nt. Burlington trustee Brenda Agnew said there are some nota- bly upsetting issues the census reveals and she hopes will be ad- dressed. She specifically refer- enced the question about “feel- ings of belonging” at schools and the response from children with disabilities. "This is a great gut Pune Thirty-five per cent of o1 dents with disabilities dont feel like they belong at school. Disa- bilities feel unwelcome. This doesn't include intersectionali CENSUS REVEALS GENERAL POSITIVE FINDINGS ty, which we know adds a whole additional layer to that," said Agi oal of the survey is to help the. board better under- stand the student population it serves Sand identify any system- ic bari John Klein, director of edu- cation for the HCDSB, said the census has identified areas that should be addressed and that the senior team can now look at “The statistics are there to prod us and push forwart said Klein. "With our minds and with our hearts, we need to take a look at these, and I do agree, I welcome and appreciate the suggestion about hitting the ground running in terms of what are the short, medium and long term goals." For more information on the www.hcdsb.org. STORY BEHIND THE STORY: The student census provided a unique look into what a large number of students in the region's schools actually think about their experience. To that end, we wanted to under- stand | what these numbers told bout how our youth feel ibout their schooling. SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT INSIDEHALTON.COM Pebble Concrete * Stamped Concrete * Interlocking Located in Haltor hilton * Campbelbte + Hamilton + Oakvi 3133 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, Milton, ON LOE 0J7 Ti Talaar-lar-lareksver-\ ek-mere aa) * Walkways * Garage Floors « Patios Curbs (French) Rs ‘and around lurington + Aldershot lle » Mississauga * Waterdown + Carlisle BAEUMLER