big issues:bullying in schools
Toronto has four publicly funded school boards, split by language (English or French) and faith (public or Catholic). The English-language boards are the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) and the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB). The French-language boards are Conseil scolaire Viamonde and Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir.
Before you read: a note on provincial supervision. The TDSB and TCDSB have been under provincial supervision since June 27, 2025. Viamonde and MonAvenir are not. While supervision is in place, provincially appointed supervisors exercise powers that would normally belong to elected trustees. Unless otherwise noted, this primer describes a trustee's ordinary powers, outside supervision. To read more: Ontario government.
Bullying affects whether students feel safe at school. Ontario requires every publicly funded school board to have policies and plans to prevent and respond to bullying. Bullying can take physical, verbal, social, or online forms. In 2025, a national report found that 71% of Canadian youth aged 12 to 17 had faced some form of bullying in the past year.
The Province sets many of the rules boards must follow when responding to bullying.
School boards work within the provincial framework. Trustees help shape board policies, priorities, and spending, but they do not manage individual incidents. Here are three ways to understand the role trustees play in bullying prevention and response: the policies they approve, how each board's approach differs, and what has changed recently. These are not the only factors, and the largest levers belong to the Province.
Candidate answers
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Jennifer Di Francesco
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?As a mother, I want every child to walk into school feeling safe, respected and included and every parent to know concerns will be taken seriously. Trustees must demand clear policies, consistent enforcement and accountability when the system falls short. I would support prevention, staff training, prompt reporting and follow-up, and meaningful help for affected students. Families must be heard without fear of dismissal or retaliation.
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Stephanie Loor Ruiz
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Growing up in YSW and being part of ESP and R.I.S.E, I learned how vital it is for trustees to be involved when schools address bullying and discrimination. Trustees should help start these conversations, act as liaisons for parents and students, and facilitate meetings to keep neutrality. I support clear protocols that ensure students are heard, incidents are reported, investigated, and resolved so victims feel safe trusting adults again.
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Paul Salvatori
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?I believe a School Board Trustee, in keeping with key Christian principles of responsibility and care, should do their utmost to ensure that bullying and discrimination have no place in school communities. Where it occurs, they should ensure that those who engage in it are held accountable. I also believe such behaviour can arise from unresolved conflict and hidden pain. As Trustee, I would work to identify that pain and help students heal, without minimizing the impact of their behaviour.
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Anton Perera
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Work shops must be conducted for teachers and staff with the involvement of a professional counsellor with experience in this matter on how to address class room bullying and discrimination. Then teachers themselves can teach students with regard to a code of conduct in and out of the class room setting clear expectations. Teach social and emotional skills to students. Following the teaching of Lord Jesus Christ teach students to love one another regardless of their race and social background. From time to time conduct surveys among students
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Markus de Domenico
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?All students have a right to attend our schools without fear of bullying or harassment. At TCDSB, I moved motions to expand our Board wide Code of Conduct so that it aligned with the Ontario Human Rights Code and I was a leader in the movement to acknowledge Pride Month, fly the Pride flag at all schools and admin buildings and provide resources to educators in support of our acceptance of all students and staff. Students deserve a safe learning environment
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Sara Concordia
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Every child deserves to feel safe, respected and included at school. Bullying and discrimination must always be taken seriously. A trustee’s role is to make sure the right policies, staff training and student supports are in place and to hold the school board accountable for enforcing those policies and protecting the student.
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Susel Munoz Plasencia
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?A trustee has a responsibility to make sure every student feels safe, respected, welcomed, and supported by their peers and teachers. I would support stronger prevention, early intervention, and clear accountability when bullying or discrimination occurs. This includes ensuring that the Board’s Anti-Black Racism and anti-discrimination policies are meaningfully implemented and consistently applied across our schools. We must also ensure that our schools are accessible, and inclusive to all .
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Frank D'Amico
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?All students deserve to feel safe at school, bullying and discrimination must be taken seriously, students and families should be confident that their concerns are being heard. Promote prevention measures, address concerns, maintain communication between families and schools administrators. Every student should be able to learn without the fear of being bullied.
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David Le
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?As School Board Trustees, we are responsible for establishing and enacting policies that ensure a safe learning environment for our children. Bullying affects us all: children, parents, teachers, and the community. If elected, I will work to expand efforts to end bullying and harassment in schools by reviewing our current strategy for addressing bullying and expanding our cyberbullying policies. Given advances in AI, bullying will likely evolve, and we should be ready.
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Karen Emerson
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?To reduce bullying and discrimination we need to properly fund school boards to staff for inclusion, keep class sizes small, and have enough staff and resources to meet the complex needs of students. The role of the Trustee is to support parents to navigate the system to find the resources they need, and to vote to ensure these resources are available. Sadly, Bill 101 has removed the democratically elected power of Trustees to vote for what their constituents need, and has reduced the number of Trustees who can support the needs of students.
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Md Sazibul Islam
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?A trustee must help ensure that every student feels safe, respected and included. I would support stronger bullying-prevention education, confidential and accessible reporting systems, timely investigations, and meaningful follow-up with students and families. Schools should address all forms of discrimination consistently while providing mental-health support for those affected. I would also promote staff training, student leadership and regular reporting to ensure policies are producing real results.
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Glenn Kremp
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?I would help bring in resources to address these issues, our teachers are already stretched thin, and even they can be the victim of bullying. I have worked with Brave Education which is a fabulous group that goes to schools and teaches prevention with talks designed for students and even for teachers.
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Ravicha Ravinthiran
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Students should feel safe and supported at school, and parents should feel confident that concerns will actually be taken seriously. As trustee, I would push for clear ways to report bullying and discrimination, consistent follow-up and better communication with families. We should also take a proactive approach and focus on prevention by supporting mental health, positive school environments and the staff who support our students every day.
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Curtis Jack
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?The short answer is advocacy, transparency and communication. Bullying has always and will likely continue to be an unfortunate part of growing up and we should all be made aware of the tools at our disposal to address it when it rears its head. Ensuring that instances of bullying are surfaced with the right people, and communicating with the communities to make sure that they are aware of the support mechanisms in place at their disposal to address these instances when the do arise.
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Abdul Azeem Mohammed
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Bullying and discrimination have no place in our schools. As a trustee, I would support prevention, clear reporting, student support, and accountability. My experience as a school-council member, Co-Chair and Chair, along with four years representing parents through the TDSB Parent Advisory Council, has taught me the importance of listening to families. I will work to ensure concerns are taken seriously, policies are implemented consistently, and every student feels safe, respected, and included.
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Aria Garcia
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Public School Board Trustee should play as a Guidance Counsellor or Secretary in addressing issues about bullying by way of hitting weak students and racial discrimination who came from Europe. They should help students by nursing them by way of giving first aid who become victims of bully when they are hurt by big fat students and should be reported to the Toronto Police Service. Also, they should act as door keepers and keyholders to guard the buildings and remove those who sleep inside the school at night.
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Ketan Purohit
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Every child deserves to feel safe, respected and included at school. As a Trustee, I would support strong bullying-prevention programs, prompt and consistent responses, clear reporting processes, and support for affected students and families. I would promote empathy, respect and conflict-resolution skills, train staff to recognize concerns early, and encourage safe reporting. I would encourage participation with parents and the community to stop bullying. Building a culture, training staff and community involvement will resolve this issue.
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Vimuththan Nantheeswarar
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?My priority is to create conditions for safe, inclusive, and respectful school climates. I would support policies and practices that address bullying and discrimination through prevention, relationship-building, and accountability, rather than relying solely on punitive responses. My priority would be strengthening student belonging, dignity, and voice by promoting approaches grounded in curiosity, listening, inclusion, and restorative problem-solving. When students feel seen, respected, and connected, schools become safer places for everyone.
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Timothy Ellis
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Trustees and all elected representatives first need to lead by example, treating each other and constituents with respect, dignity, and patience. I commit to this. In addition, I support policies to tackle systemic inequities and build a school culture that centers core Canadian values of inclusivity, kindness, and collaboration alongside world-class academic achievement. Finally, we must ensure that school staff have the time and resources to give students the attention and support they need.
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Ivan Voitsytskyi
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?A trustee should listen to parents and students, and make sure concerns are taken seriously. I would support clear anti-bullying rules, faster help when a child is being hurt, and better communication between families and the school. A trustee cannot run the classroom, but can ask the board to check if the process works and help families find the right person. Every student should feel safe at school.
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Andrew Massey
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Trustees must address systemic discrimination with better policy. TDSB data show that Black and Middle Eastern students are punished with suspension far more than their peers. Good policy grows community and belonging. Students behave better when they feel seen, heard, and welcome. Punishment only pushes them away. I support implementing restorative practices (repairing the damage caused) through purposeful workshops, timely supports, positive incentives, and collective responsibility. We must help our kids look out for one another.
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Andrene Gregory
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?My first responsibility would be to ensure that the safety compliance set out by the Education Act is followed. Bullying and discrimination cannot and should never be overlooked or minimized. Both can cause serious harm and fatality. But we have to care for all our students–both the perpetrators and victims. I would support safety first, then intervention and restoration followed by accountability and monitoring. A successful resolution is not necessarily discipline and punishment but the quality of care taken to ensure everyone’s well-being.
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Elina Feyginberg
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?A school trustee should advocate for safety and well being of all students and for a learning environment free from bullying, discrimination and harassment. A school trustee should act as a liaison between parents/ guardians and school administrators to promote safe learning environment for all students free from bullying.
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Adam Golding
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?I wrote about this last time in "Proxy Peace" on Substack, and this time voters wrote me first about antisemitism in schools. I've since attended the so-called antisemitism debate the mayor skipped, and pushed for inter-faith dialogue, both in the school board and in the broader community, in "What I told Toronto Faiths", also available on Substack. I've cited the known statistics that Blacks and Jews are the top two targets of hate in Toronto. Harsher disciplinary measures must coexist with dialogue--mere dialogue is victim-blaming.
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Tasha Kheiriddin
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Every child deserves to feel safe and welcome at school. As trustee, I would advocate for policies that put victims first, while ensuring serious or repeated bullying, violence, hate-based attacks and discrimination have appropriate consequences. I support restorative approaches where they work, but compassion cannot mean an absence of accountability. I would back teachers and principals, strengthen prevention and ask that staff track repeat incidents to determine whether Board policies are actually keeping students safe.
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Axel Arvizu
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Every student deserves to feel safe, respected and included at school. As a Trustee, I would support clear reporting processes, timely intervention and accountability when bullying or discrimination occurs. I would also advocate for staff training, stronger prevention programs, and meaningful student and parent input. My goal would be to ensure Board policies translate into action and that every school fosters a culture of respect, belonging and responsibility.
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Gladstone Cherrington
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?The School Trustee play a pivotal role in addressing bullying and discrimination in our Schools. We're here to listen to students, staff and parents. Every student and staff member deserves to feel safe at school, physically and emotionally. The school environment should be free of discrimination, physical harm, verbal, social and cyber bullying. I’ll investigate and respond to reports of bullying or discrimination that impact student safety. Supporting initiatives to strengthen belonging, to combat bullying and discrimination in the TDSB.
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Shaffni Nalir
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Bullying can stay with a student long after the school day ends. Trauma that can grow and fester and cause harm. As trustee, I would focus on: Making sure students and parents know where to turn. Ensuring bullying and discrimination concerns are followed up on quickly and fairly. Supporting stronger mental-health and student-support services. Investing in prevention, not only reacting after something happens. Building school environments where students feel safe speaking up.
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Imran Khan
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Thanks for this important question. I want to ask who has not been bullyied ? Almost everyone has been including myself and to stand up and make our Students brave - I would love to see sessions given to students about how to counter bullying ! It can come from any one : Teachers, Peers and Parents even ! Let us Give information to everyone and let them know : "We will not be Bullied at TDSB ! And TDSB Stands Up to Bullies"
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Ibrahim Hatia
Bullying and discrimination are concerns raised in many school communities. What role do you believe a School Board Trustee should play in addressing these issues, and what actions would you support?Every child in Don Valley East and West deserves to feel safe, accepted and proud of who they are at school. Our schools serve families with different languages, cultures and learning needs. I will push for reporting every parent can use, adults who act when children are hurt, and support that helps children rebuild their confidence. I will challenge bullying, racism and discrimination, and press for stronger supervision and action on every report. Your child deserves to walk into school ready to learn, make friends and believe in their future.