The woke trustees on the Waterloo Region District School Board were left virtually speechless last week by a series of parents concerned with the board’s policies on gender ideology and the age-inappropriate books contained in school libraries.
At one point, radical trustee and former chairman Scott Piatkowski suggested that trans activist Julia Malott was in the “minority” in the trans community for taking the position that parents need to be kept in the loop about a student’s wish to socially transition (which includes, changing his or her pronouns).
“I’m blessed to have a number of trans people in my life that I’ve spoken to on issues like this,” he lectured Malott, who transitioned at age 28. “Their point of view is quite different than yours.
The meeting erupted into chaos as Piatkowski — who is being sued for defamation to the tune of $1.7-million by 20-year teacher Carolyn Burjoski — put his foot in his mouth yet again.
Comments of “unacceptable” ensued.
“There is a lot of hate towards transgendered people who don’t follow the exact kosher script,” Malott told the arrogant trustee, adding that most with her point of view don’t want to come in and speak.
(Piatkowski, sporting an N95 mask, didn’t engage in any follow-up).
Malott told trustees it is not the responsibility of the school to decide whether children should transition and to hide a student’s wish to transition from his or her parents.
“This overstep of parental rights is dangerous and irresponsible,” she said.”How will we ensure appropriate medical supports are available to students?”
She said there are many cases showing a relationship between gender dysphoria and autism, borderline personality disorder and other underlying mental issues.
Not telling parents will result in “isolating” students from their families and the medical community they need, she added.
“We must do better,” she said. “Transition may not be right for some, transition may be right for others,” she said.
David Todor, a Waterloo father of two young girls, returned to the board to speak after upsetting trustees and the board’s education director so much in January, they issued an open letter about his speech.
The letter bordered on defamatory, and to this the board’s education director Jeewan Chanicka has never taken responsibility for approving it or being behind it.
To accentuate his concerns about the age-inappropriate literature on the board’s approved reading lists, Todor read from a highly controversial and sophisticated book called “Identical,” which covers themes of incest and rape.
When he read a passage from the book depicting a father’s (a district court judge) sexual abuse of his young daughter, masked trustee Kathleen Woodcock tried to stop him, expressing concern that his reading was “against their human rights policy.”
Ironically she claimed it might “cause harm” to those watching.
After some confusion, the chairman allowed Todor to continue his “quote.”
Another trustee, Mena Waseem, who repeatedly appears on Zoom, kept insisting Todor provide the context in which the passage was written.
“I believe it’s useful to know the context,” she said, not bothering to simply look up the book and discover the background for herself
The book itself is recommended for kids at minimum 14 years and older.
Todor referred to the fact that teacher Carolyn Burjoski was shut down by then chairman Piatkowski in January of 2022– amid accusations of transphobia – for reading from similar but not as explosive books contained in elementary school libraries.
He reiterated that asking his daughter about their sexual orientation is none of the board’s business.
“You Intimidate parents’ concerns by labelling opposing discussion as hate speech,” he said, noting that Chanicka refuses to be accountable for the school board’s policies on gender ideology.
“When will the board shift the focus from sexuality and political nonsense to teaching academics?”
The trustees – or at least most of them – came across as downright idiotic at last week’s meeting, not that they see themselves.
The deputations laid bare how ignorant they truly are about transgendered people and how they merely follow a woke script to make themselves look good.
In fact, the chairman asked the name of the book after Todor had named it – suggesting to me that they don’t even listen until something proves to challenge their woke view of the world.
It also showed how little they know about the highly sexualised books available in school libraries–that they blindly trust the lead and the assurances of activist Chanicka, who has no credentials, in my view, to lead a school board.
In fact, the Old Guard socialists vehemently resisted any attempts to make the book selection process open and transparent, once again suggesting they insist on propping up the potentially harmful impact of Chanicka’s and his bureaucrat’s choices.
Trustee Mike Ramsay suggested that stopping Todor’s reading speaks to the (lack of) maturity amongst his colleagues.
He said the Human Rights Code is constantly used instead of being transparent.
“It’s very easy to throw that out and refuse to answer legitimate questions to be answered,” he said.
He’s right.
The board voted 6-4 against giving Todor answers to his questions.
Instead, they grilled him on the book in a concerted attempt to attack his integrity for being against the book’s highly controversial themes.
What the woke sheep on the board – like Woodcock and Piatkowski – refuse to recognize is that parents are starting to speak up and they have the right to get answers without being labelled as hateful or transphobic.
These parents are not going away.
