BY: PASTOR BILL SUNBERG
For the last 18 months of his life, Jeremiah Ranger never went to school.
Not one day.
That sounds shocking, I know. But the reality is that this meant he was only in school slightly less than previous years due to his frequent suspensions. He would be suspended for 20 days, return to school for a short time and then get suspended for another 20 days. It was a consistent case of educational whiplash.
But the fact remains. For the last 18 months of his life, Jeremiah Ranger never went to school.
“The best thing when it came to the school,” says Jeremiah’s mother, Krystal, “was the part where he wasn’t going. It was the best solution. That’s scary. What odds are these children going to have if they are not accepted within the school board and they are not receiving any education, living in the communities we live in…I’m pretty sure I’m in a country where not going to school when you are under 16 is illegal, but in Jeremiah’s case it wasn’t illegal. This went on for a year and a half. He wasn’t in school when he passed away.”
From the first report in Jeremiah’s police record when he was eight years old, he had a tenuous relationship with school. That first written report stemmed from an incident at school. In fact, at least 10 of the 43 GO#s in his file are school related. Without access to Jeremiah’s OSR (Ontario Student Record) it is difficult to explain why this is. However, we can gain some insight through a further examination of his Police Record. For this purpose, we turn our attention to the events of January 7, 2016.
The fourteenth GO# in Jeremiah’s file is the police record of the events that occurred on January 7, 2016 at Calico Public School. Jeremiah was 10 years old and in Grade 5. Jeremiah had a confrontation that day, first with a teacher and then with other staff. After the confrontation, Jeremiah left the school building. Police were called when Jeremiah uttered threats to the Principal and threw stones at the school building. One of Jeremiah’s older brothers was called to the school to escort him home.
Frankly, in light of the content of the 42 other GO#’s in his file, this incident does not stand out. However, the significance is in the broader context leading up to and surrounding this incident. As previously reported, Jeremiah was suspended on November 20, 2015 for an incident at the school. On that occasion, Jeremiah’s mother, Krystal, requested help. This was the first time it is reported that she asked for help. After years of struggling to support Jeremiah on her own, she finally asked for help. As was also previously reported, that meeting did not occur for 47 days. She asked for help and had to wait 47 days. When that meeting finally took place, the school Principal, representatives from CAS and Toronto Police Service met with Krystal to come up with a plan to help her and to provide the support that Jeremiah needed. That meeting took place on January 6, 2016. The events captured in this GO# happened on January 7, 2016. The very next day after the meeting, Jeremiah had another incident. This next statement is included in the report: The Principal “advised that Police, RANGER’s mother, and the school along with CAS have attempted to resolve RANGER’s behavioural issues, however, nothing is working.”
After years of school incidents, Krystal Ranger asks for help. She waits 47 days for the meeting. And the next day it is declared that “nothing is working.” One day after the meeting. One day. There had not even been enough time to implement a new plan yet, whatever the new plan was. Everyone knew there would be another incident. That is why they had the meeting. That is why they made a plan. Jeremiah and Krystal deserved more support than that. I am not suggesting it would have been easy. I am sure it wasn’t. But to wait 47 days to make a plan and take only one day to give up on it, that cannot be the best TDSB has to offer.
In fact, the report states that part of the plan that Krystal shared with Jeremiah as a result of the meeting was that when he was having a hard time at school, instead of raging and kicking doors or acting out in any kind of way, he should just come home. That was the plan. If you are feeling the pressure and the world pressing in around you, just walk one block home. It appears Jeremiah was following the plan he was given. As a result, he was suspended. And it was declared, “Nothing is working.”
It is also apparent that the sentiment that “nothing is working” was not just a result of a failed one day old plan at Calico school. The school board also seemed to have come to that conclusion. Here is a list of the schools Jeremiah attended in his short life:
Jr Kindergarten: Calico
Sr Kindergarten: Calico
Grade 1: KIP
Grade 2: Lambton Park Community School
Grade 3: Lambton Park Community School
Grade 4: Calico Public School
Grade 5: Calico Public School
Grade 6: Beverley Heights Middle School
Grade 7: Oakdale Park Middle School
He was in a different school almost every year. Krystal indicates that this was not at her request or Jeremiah’s request. It was always the initiative of the school district. What it looks like is that when “nothing was working” at one school, they would move Jeremiah to another school. It would be determined that a program in another school would be the best fit for Jeremiah. So, Jeremiah would transfer to a new school. Almost every year.
It is hard to imagine the amount of difficulty this presented for Jeremiah. The challenges he would have faced in restarting the socialization process each year would have been traumatic for anyone. On top of that, he would have had different teachers and different support workers making different strategies every year. This could not have been good for him. He would have benefited greatly from a stable and consistent environment. Furthermore, by moving schools so often, the school district was failing to take into account the neighbourhood rivalries that exist between communities in Toronto. This is not just a gang issue. This is an issue for non gang youth as well. Youth in some neighbourhoods do not like to associate with youth in other neighbourhoods. In some of the schools, Jeremiah was put in a situation where he was surrounded by youth that did not like where he was from and were going to challenge him because of that. The school district literally put Jeremiah in situations where he had to fight to survive. And then they suspended him for fighting. I am not saying that this was the main contributing factor in every school related incident. But what I am saying is that for his whole school experience, he was by necessity on edge. This undoubtedly had an impact on why he was so often triggered by small things.
In the later years, when Jeremiah was no longer in school, it appears that even schools Jeremiah had not attended had gotten the message that “nothing was working.” When searching for places that were better suited to meet Jeremiah’s needs, Krystal reports that there was resistance to accepting Jeremiah into their program. “We visited a couple of programs, alternative, and they were such a good fit for him,” she says. “But because of whatever was said in the OSR, the person running the program would say, ‘Well maybe this will not be the right fit.’' So Jeremiah stayed home.
One of the police investigations into Jeremiah’s school behaviour unfolded over a few months in the fall of 2018. Jeremiah had been accused of stealing lunch money from a number of students over a period of time throughout 2018. Jeremiah would ask for their lunch money. If they did not immediately hand over the money, he would threaten them and start counting down, 5…4…3…2…1, in order to intimidate them. As a result of the investigation, Jeremiah was formally charged with, and appears to have pled guilty to, two counts of Robbery CC343(a) and one count of Theft Under $5000.
Krystal remembers this clearly. Also in the fall of 2018 was a big news story about the hazing and sexual assault that had happened at St. Michael’s College School. When the story broke, it was revealed that police did not find out about this incident from the administration at St. Michael’s. Instead it was when a video was posted on social media and brought to their attention that they began their investigation. It is not clear that the administration at St. Michael’s College School was ever planning to report the incident to the police. We will never know. What we do know is that they did not report it when they had the opportunity to do so.
This was not lost on Krystal. She remembers thinking to herself, “So let me get this straight, a school where kids are going to and parents are paying $100,000 for their yearly education, they could be using broomsticks and literally sodomizing other children and this is not an issue, but my child goes to school and says, ‘5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Give me your lunch money’ and he gets charged with extortion.” Different rules for different students. This is a textbook example of systemic racism.
It is not hard to see why Krystal said, “The best thing when it came to the school was the part where he wasn’t going. It was the best solution.” She went on to say, “So basically, I was sending my child somewhere where I knew he wasn’t wanted… It got to the point where it was so overpowering that it was like I was willing to stay home with him. I am not willing to send him to you people no more. Because clearly he was not wanted here.”
As a result, for the last 18 months of his life, Jeremiah Ranger never went to school.
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Robin Diangelo wrote the book, “White Fragility.” It is a groundbreaking book that discusses why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism. She writes in her book that when faced with evidence of racism, white people cope with the uncomfortable truth by changing the subject, arguing, avoiding, denying, focusing on intentions, or even just withdrawing from the conversation. When you know what signs to look for, you can see examples of this behaviour all around us. For example, in our neighbour to the South, the way people responded to the protest of Colin Kapernick is a classic example. Instead of dealing with police brutality amongst the black community, the subject was changed. The whole conversation became about honouring the flag. Whatever you feel regarding the conversation about honouring the flag, it is clear that it missed Kapernick’s point. That is what white fragility does. It changes the subject in an effort to take the heat off and to avoid dealing with the important things.
I suggest that there is also such a thing as “Systemic Fragility.” Whenever the focus turns to systemic injustices, the systemic stakeholders respond in many of the same ways: changing the subject, arguing, avoiding, denying, focusing on intentions, or even just withdrawing from the conversation. Anything to avoid dealing with the important things. The reason for this is that even broken systems are filled with good people. And pointing out the flaws of the broken systems makes these same good people uncomfortable.
Some of the best people I know are teachers. Some of the people closest to me are teachers. I have watched as these same teachers literally wear themselves out in service to their students. They will go the last mile and even sacrifice their health and resources to fulfill their calling. But that does not change the fact that there are systemic issues in our schools. No one individual is to blame for Jeremiah Ranger being sent to a different school almost every year. But the system let him down. No one individual is to blame for not having a consistent strategy to support Jeremiah year over year. But the system let him down. No one individual is to blame for the difference in the way students are treated in a wealthy school versus a school in a high risk community. But the system treats students differently nonetheless. Furthermore, we cannot keep cutting the Education Budget and expect teachers to perform superhuman feats to make up the difference. The system is letting the teachers down as well as the students. The system is broken. We should not shy away from saying that. Instead, we should do something about it.
We have looked at two systems: Toronto Police Service and Toronto District School Board. We have seen how both have come up short in serving the needs of Jeremiah and Krystal Ranger. But there is one more system we need to look at to conclude our journey through the story of Jeremiah Ranger. The final system is the Faith Community. In the next column, I endeavour to hold up a mirror to my own world, the church.
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Personal / Pastoral Notes:
To the teachers of Ontario, thank you for the sacrifices, the hard work, and the selfless service you bring to your work every day. As if your job was not hard enough already, we have changed all the rules and totally upended the way you can teach during the pandemic and yet have still expected you to accomplish the impossible. You are amazing people filling one of the most vital roles for the future success of our society. We have hope for tomorrow because of you.
To Robin Diangelo, thanks for starting the hard conversation. Thanks for helping us see the things we need to see. How else would be be able to change?
To Colin Kapernick, keep kneeling. Even if you never throw a football again, you did the right thing. Just imagine what could have been if the world had not changed the subject when you first took a knee.
To anyone who would like to add to the story or share a new story, please contact me at pb.to@rogers.com
This article and the rest of the four part series “Block Boy: The Story of Jeremiah Ranger” can be viewed on my website pastorbill.ca