The Toronto District School Board says it never discussed the implications of allowing an 11-year-old girl to speak to a barrage of reporters after she had made apparently false allegations her hijab had been cut, twice. It was “not part of the conversation,” TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird told the Star Tuesday. The TDSB requires that parents or guardians give permission for a person under the age 18 to take part in a media event or availability. “It’s very important that parents and guardians are responsible for this approval,” Bird said. The 11-year-old’s unusual appearance — victims of crime under the age of 18 are traditionally not identified by police or the media — was allowed by the consent of her mother, according to Ross Parry, TDSB’s executive officer of government, public and community relations. Parry said the 11-year-old’s mother was asked if she would like to join TDSB spokesperson Shari Schwartz-Maltz for a media appearance. Schwartz-Maltz explained who the media are, that they would be asking questions and that if the mother did not want to answer, she did not have to, Parry said. Schwartz-Maltz, who stood beside the girl at the Friday appearance, declined requests for an interview.“At this point I’m still not sure if I’m going to speak further about it,” she wrote in an email to the Star. The mother was concerned for community safety and for “her own personal despair for what had happened to the family,” Parry said. She asked her son and daughter if they wanted to join her, Parry said, and they did. The Star has chosen not to name the girl.Read more:An attacker did not cut her hijab, police say. But why did the TDSB let the tearful 11-year-old face the cameras? 5-year-old who died after being pinned by car had just started school after fighting cancerShree Paradkar | A girl’s hijab story isn’t true. But we’d be fools to believe anti-Mus ...
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