Hundreds of Toronto students are planning to walk out of class Thursday to protest what is occurring in the Gaza Strip.
Based on information provided to True North, the Toronto District School Board executive team does not approve of the walkouts, but school staff allegedly can’t stop students from leaving the school premises.
Information from education director Colleen Russell-Rawlins’ office claims students will be marked absent if they attend the rallies.
Nevertheless, a series of inflammatory flyers promoting the rallies – some of them containing lies and hyperbole – indicate that the protests will occur either between 10 a.m. and noon or from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. (all during class time).
One flyer from Scarborough’s Sir Oliver Mowat Collegiate Institute claims the rally is taking place because of the Canadian government’s failure to recognize the “GENOCIDE happening in the Gaza Strip in Palestine.”
The flyer says students want the government to recognize the fact that Israel was behind the hospital bombing – a lie, as it has been proven that the rocket that hit the hospital parking lot belonged to terrorists in Gaza.
Never let facts get in the way of good indoctrination and hate mongering, though.
A flyer from R.H. King Academy says a teacher can’t stop students from leaving class to participate and the principal, Catherine Chang, has approved moving any tests or quizzes to another day.
Reached Wednesday, Chang said she’s working to ensure the “safety of all students” and that the protest will not occur on school property.
She said they have a “protocol” to ensure hate speech will not be tolerated and that they “create safe inclusive spaces.”
I didn’t really get an answer about why students are permitted to leave class to protest – especially considering the education minister has told school boards to focus on the basics (academics) and not social justice this year.
Any doubt that the lunatics are running the asylum evaporated with the directives from the activist education director, who has been said in the past to not be protecting the board’s Jewish students and staff.
She indicates that most organizers have said their protests will be peaceful and will not include signs with hateful language, slurs or violence.
Based on what has been happening on the streets of Toronto, I am willing to bet she is sugarcoating what could become a series of toxic hatefests. The flyers perpetuating lies about Israel are already hate speech.
She says that while students are encouraged to remain in class, the TDSB supports the rights of all students to “feel heard.”
I find all of this absolutely obscene.
Russell-Rawlins has yet again shown how weak the oversight is at the board.
It is clear that the TDSB and its schools have not only taken sides, but they don’t give a damn about the rights of Jewish students and staff, or the truth.
I have my doubts the protests will remain peaceful and respectful.
But the bottom line is that activities like this should never be permitted to occur during the school day.
Students are in school to learn academics, not how to protest and shout vile antisemitic slurs.
They can easily spew propaganda after school hours.
Yet again the TDSB has proven it has deviated from its mission.
Perhaps it is time the education ministry takes over the board.
