Windsor Ontario invites a special guest to speak on Parents rights

To start we would like to put some context here regarding this meeting and why a special guest (Julia Malott) was invited by local parents to speak to our school board. Our school district has made it clear that if your child/student decides to change their gender, name, or how they identify, the parents will not be told. It will be held a secret. We as parents and FIRST educators feel it is wrong for our children to keep secrets. They need support in their decisions.

Julia is a Trans Woman, and is not a stranger when it comes to attending School Board Meetings. One meeting was described as very heated in Oakville, Ontario. The agenda was about the gender transitioning teacher wearing enormous and sexualized prosthetic breasts under tight-fitting tops in the classroom. Julia asked to speak at this meeting and was told she had to change her speech in order to talk at the board meeting. And Parents wishing to speak to the board complained of the trustee’s insistence that presentations first be vetted. Which is happening in the GECDSB meetings as well. Some speakers said they were barred from speaking after declining to agree to the terms of the Halton Region meeting. The article is quoted as saying:

Julia Malott is in favour of enacting a dress code for teachers — one that allows them freedom to express their self-identified gender, but also reins in outfits that exaggerate natural proportions.

Before her speech, she told National Post that few transgendered people are willing to publicly wade into the controversy.

Malott said she agreed to submit her statement to the board in advance so she could address the matter, but was told she had to change her words in order to be allowed to speak.

“We are sorry you felt this was not open and transparent process,” the school board told Malott in an email prior to the meeting, before telling her two sentences in her presentation were forbidden to be spoken in public.

The article by Saltwire gives full details.

Julia Malott also had the honor of speaking at a controversial and heated meeting at the Waterloo District School Board. It appears the trustees were left speechless by the concerns of parents regarding policies on gender ideology and the age-inappropriate books that are in our libraries. (please watch the video of Linda Qin, Trustee of the GECDSB who put forth a motion regarding books)

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.

During the presentation in Windsor, Julia immediately captured the attention of the audience with a powerful opening statement. Her confident and enthusiastic tone drew everyone in, and she made an excellent use of body language and eye contact to establish a connection with the audience. As the presentation continued, Julia used a variety of engaging stories, life experiences and real-life examples to illustrate her points. Additionally, Julia was able to inject personal anecdotes into the presentation, which helped to humanize the content and make it more relatable to the audience. Overall, Julia’s dynamic and charismatic presentation style, combined with her use of engaging content and effective communication techniques, ensured that the audience was fully engaged and captivated throughout the presentation. We (the parents) felt very honored that she agreed to come to Windsor Ontario and speak from real life experiences. We will also include a video from her Twitter account which we felt was from the heart too

second speaker Patsy Copus speaks on 2023-2024 Budget Consultation Survey report

written speech for GECDSB meeting heldMay 2nd, 2023

After this meeting there were posts on Facebook regarding this speech on the subject of the Budget Consultation Survey. Many Parents said they never saw it and that the only survey they saw was the Gender Survey. According to the PDF file below, they state: “An online survey was made available to the public from February 24, 2023 to March 31, 2023. The survey was promoted on the board’s website, Edsby, social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, at Public Board meetings and through a media release.” The video and speech prove that the GECDSB failed in their responsibility to make sure that all students, teachers, parents and guardians were made aware of it. Not every parents uses social media. Not every parent checks into Edsby daily or knows how to navigate it. As for media release, do they mean newspapers, radio? It is also important to know who did fill out the survey. When reading the responses, you would need to know the priorities answers for teachers, students, parents/guardians. After all this was a survey about priorities, and priorities differ for Teachers, Students and Parents. Perhaps the GECDSB will take the advice of hiring one of their students to promote a survey on Social Media as they are very fluent in how it works.

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To read the 60 page report click on the second arrow to view the next page.

Good evening Trustees  My name is Patsy Copus I am a guardian of a student in GECDSB

I read the 2023-24 BUDGET SURVEY AND PUBLIC CONSULTATION REPORT and dissected the results.   My biggest observation was how low the participant numbers were.  You got 1,206 responses from 9 municipalities.  I do not feel that enough was done to promote this survey.  If you used social media correctly on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, You tube and your website you would have got way more than the dismal 246 visitors to your website.  I know that you also sent out a release was it through the newspaper?  In the report it says that people spent 3 minutes on the page which again is a very low retention rate.

 This report reads: the finance department worked with the communications officer to leverage social media. Who are they and how

much did this cost to promote and to tally the results. Did you ever think of asking students to help with social media promotion. This would have been an excellent project for them which could have contributed to their volunteer hours.

The survey, even with a low participation rate did prove that the most pressing priority is NOT Math, Science or even Technology.

1.  Mental Health for students.
2. Special Education
3. Reading/writing skills
4. And lastly mental health for staff.
5.  I have personally spoken to a social worker who has seen a substantial increase in new student patients. I also had the opportunity to talk to a school principal today (who returned my call) and I talked with them about their efforts in helping students suffering with their Mental Health. One being Wellness Wednesdays.  I truly sympathize with the teachers who are having to get extra training for Justice Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and also the daily reminders to say nothing that will involve the Human Rights Code or they could face serious reprimands

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on students in Ontario.

Remote learning: many struggled with the lack of social interaction and face-to-face support from teachers and peers.

1. Disruption to academic progress: The shift to remote learning may have affected their ability to learn and perform to their full potential.
2. Mental health concerns: Isolation, uncertainty, and anxiety related to the pandemic have contributed to increased stress and mental health concerns among students.

 In reference to Questions 3 to 5:

You had to choose the top 3 priorities for budget decisions and the

allocation of funding.

Question:  Are there other areas or initiatives that should be considered during the development of the 2023-24 budget?

Under Supplementary Information

Your page 7:  Table 6: Question 3 Responses for Priority 1 listed as “Other”

***It would be important to know if these responses came from teachers, student, parents or guardians.****

These are some responses pages 8 – 44 there is not enough time to read all of them

Page 15 participants asked for more funding and better wages

Page 16: Violence in the classroom, providing support for students who need it

Page 17: Replacing WOKE teachers and those pushing the agenda

Page 18:  Address the damage/harm done by segregation of vaccinated and unvaccinated staff and students the past years

 Page 21: bullying

Page 23: Discipline, structure in the classrooms. No more aggressive students running all around the school disrupting ALL the other that ALSO have a right to an education.

Page 25 is repeated many times. Equity, Human Rights, Inclusivity

Page 26 Focus on mental illness. Kids are struggling

Page 29 I think there are TOO MANY initiatives! Focus on the basics- reading, writing, math, the arts. Our education system is falling behind, and I think much of that is due to initiatives that have no place in K-12 public education!

Page 33-34 all Mental Health

Page 46 was ALL about support staff and wages

Page 48 Staff burnout

Page 57   Mental Health and Well-Being allocated  $ 2.6 million.  I would be interested on how the schools are helping with students mental health and if given more money how will it be distributed and will kids get professional help.

COVID Learning Recovery Fund – Last year, funding of $5.1 million was provided to the board under this program.  What was this money used for?

I realize that schools are suffering from declining enrollment but how on earth did we get so far in debt ? From the survey I see a lot of burn out, people not being paid good wages, lack of technology, lack of discipline and we still have bullying.

We need better fiscal responsibility from GECDSB and we also need trustees to respond to our emails that we send with VALID concerns.  As I have just learned, they are not obligated to do so and I only have 5 minutes to speak on this topic.

LASTLY,  I also saw a response on the topic of  reducing costs which was to have less people on the School Board.  How much will this save?

Thank you