Got a Problem With TransTeachers?

"Oakville Trafalgar High School has been placed in a lockdown due to a threat made against the school."

"Investigation into the threat is ongoing at this time."

"Parents/students are asked not to attend the school."

Halton Regional Police Service

"We placed several bombs all over your school."

"We will destroy the entire city."

"We will not stand idly by as this woke ideology destroys the entirety of western society."

Part of 207-word message forwarded to ten email addresses

"Our school continues to be the subject of significant attention. The threats received today, yesterday, and in September have been issued by people emailing threats with the intention of creating a feeling of unease and fear,"

"We are also cognizant of the fact that these threats may be the result of copycatting, given the significant media attention. The unfortunate decision by individuals to deliberately harass and intimidate others is abuse and an erosion of personal safety and trust."

School principal Meredith Cammisuli and superintendent of education Jacqueline Newton

Halton Regional Police are investigating threats made against Oakville Trafalgar High School this week. (Jeremy Cohn/CBC)

This is neither the first nor the only threat of a similar nature that has been posted to the school and the school board over the inflammatory issue of an industrial arts teacher at the Oakville Trafalgar High School, north of Toronto, deciding to garb himself in women's clothing and a blonde wig. For a man transitioning to a woman this is not an unusual event now anywhere in the world we live in. What placed this event outside the sphere of most such events was his decision to wear outsize prosthetic breasts with prominent nipples under tight, revealing clothing.

His students were doubtless perplexed by this piece of performance art, and some among them possibly disturbed. With the proliferation of iphones and their excellent video-producing capabilities, videos of the event, along with stills were soon on social media, eliciting not only local, regional and nationwide attention, but reaction internationally as well. 

 

The teacher has received support, despite the outrageous costume, from the school administration and the school board. All of whom are understandably leery of provoking the ire of LGBTQ-2 groups and causing complaints to be lodged with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

 

An image from a video taken at Ontario’s Oakville Trafalgar High School showing a shop teacher wearing enormous silicone breasts with visible nipples while teaching class. Photo by Twitter

"The HDSB has received significant attention online and in the news over the past few weeks."

"[The board] continues to handle this matter in a way that stays true to our values and commitment to Human Rights, respects the privacy and dignity of our students and staff, and with the safety and well-being of students and staff as our highest priority.

"While we understand the desire for information by the public, we will not and cannot publicly discuss any matter that identifies our staff directly or indirectly."

"We trust the public will understand the parameters that guide us."

Heather Francey, Halton and District School Board spokesperson

The threat, sent to the school administration, the school board, police and media email addresses went through an encrypted email service. It was an angry message from a crank, demanding the teacher be fired, and threatening the lives of school officials, emphasizing its goal to protect students. At a meeting open to the public that took place several weeks earlier chaired by the board, a petition of signatures of outraged individuals was delivered but it remained doubtful that its demands would be met either, given the attitudes of all involved with respect to human rights issues and trans-rights.

Local police acted swiftly in response to this latest threat, officers remaining at the scene, on Wednesday, investigating. The lockdown was lifted when police advised that the school "has been cleared by officers and is deemed safe". Police remained in the area to continue investigating the situation. "No injuries have been reported at this time, not have any explosive devices been found", explained a Halton police spokesperson.

There have been protest rallies, online memes, petitions and furious debates over the behaviour of the 'transitioning' teacher whose choice of costume while teaching students an industrial arts class initiated the brouhaha. A local issue whose bizarre content spread like wildfire to international media and was an embarrassment to the region. Despite the commotion and the indignation and the wishes of parents that the school enforce a dress code for teachers, this transitioning male has continued his unorthodox and baffling appearance in the same outsize prosthetic breasts.

Oakville Trafalgar High School in Oakville, Ont. Photo by Toronto Sun Staff/Postme

The provincial minister of education had requested that the provincial regulating body consider formalizing a dress code for teachers. In the interim the school board itself initiated a report, the results released at a school board meeting. The board concluded a dress code for teachers not be instituted in light of human rights concerns. Evidently the 'human rights' of trans teachers to make others uncomfortable and in the process provoke a dangerous situation, are sacrosanct, the civil/social rights of children in the education system, not so much.