Of course, the key problem with the letter is that it was a textbook example of gaslighting. Unsurprisingly, board chair Joanne Weston then defended the letter and claimed that it cleared up a lot of “misconceptions.” Trustees Cindy Watson, Mike Ramsay, and Bill Cody were so upset with the letter that they issued a statement of their own denouncing the way in which parents had been demonized for raising “legitimate concerns” about WRDSB schools. If the letter was supposed to resolve the issue, all it did was raise the temperature. Among other things, the letter denounced parents who used “inflammatory language and misinformation” and stated that questions about school library books are often “veiled attempts to target 2SLGBTQIA+ families.” While Todor wasn’t directly named in the letter, it was obviously about him. Instead, the WRDSB released a lengthy “open letter” in which it attacked Todor for what he said during his presentation. Most people watching that board meeting would likely have assumed that Todor would soon receive a personal phone call or letter from a staff member who would then address his concerns. Immediately after Todor’s presentation, trustees passed a motion asking that his concerns be forwarded to staff so they could follow up with him directly. Considering how the WRDSB had previously silenced one of its own teachers for raising similar concerns, the fact that Todor was allowed to finish his presentation at all was a step in the right direction. Whether or not one agrees with what Todor said or with how he said it, there is no question that as a parent in the region, he had every right to be heard. He also read out loud from a book with sexually explicit language that he claimed was accessible to his daughters at school. During his presentation, David Todor expressed opposition to the board’s focus on gender and sexuality and raised concerns about surveys that his 7-year-old and 9-year-old girls were asked to fill out. 16, a concerned parent appeared as a delegate at a WRDSB board meeting. Not content with the chaos and divisiveness that took place last year, WRDSB trustees appear determined to double down on their toxic approach. If there was a prize for the most dysfunctional school board in the country, the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) would be a serious contender.
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