WRDSB - THE BIGGEST SCHOOL YARD BULLY

 

Monday, January 16, 2012

SCHOOLYARD BULLIES

Guess who's the biggest bully in the schoolyard? You may or may 

not be surprised to learn that it's the School Board themselves. 

Specifically that would be the Waterloo Region District School Board. 

This opinion of mine is shared by parents who have come up against

 the system , some very honest and courageous teachers within the 

system and finally I would suggest by Record reporter Luisa D'Amato

 in her Opinion piece in Saturday's Kitchener-Waterloo Record titled

 "Tory M.P.P.'s challenge public school board over child care". Let 

me quote her directly and you the reader decide if I'm overstating the

 case: "I covered education for many years at this paper. Sitting at

 school board meetings, I was routinely infuriated by what I saw as 

the board's culture of hostility to dissent, and it's intransigence."

"...the board's culture of hostility to dissent...". Wow that's pretty 

strong language and it's accurate. This I know from personal 

experience dealing with them when my children were young and in

 their clutches. You can't imagine my relief when both my children

 were out of high school and they and their parents no longer had to

 deal with the cowardly bullies who run our education system. My 

wife and I spent seven years in and out of Court, as a direct result of

 the School Board's refusal to deal honestly and properly with issues 

that they bore responsibility for. Although our case was thank god 

significantly less horrific than the Ron Archer case, that case is one 

that this School Board should all wear to their graves. Indeed if there

 was one iota of justice in the local education system, there would 

have been a housecleaning at the Waterloo Region District School 

Board over their grotesque and I believe criminal failure to stop that 

pedophile in his tracks. Instead the Board enabled his criminal 

activities with a well known policy of transferring teachers which

 became known as "passing the trash". As far as bullying goes, it 

is our Judicial system which enables the school Board to bully 

parents. At that time the Waterloo Region District School Board had

 an annual budget of $350 million, just slightly higher than mine (HA!).

 They used their financial superiority to beat up on dissenting parents

 via the ridiculously costly judicial system. Whether civil suits, 

provincial offences such as Trespass or whatever their gutless little 

minds could dream up, nothing was too petty or malicious for them. 

The last thing however they would do is honestly discuss, debate,

 compromise or even acknowledge when they had a problem much 

less admit a mistake. "...the board's culture of hostility to dissent 

and their intransigence.". Thankyou for this and other writings 

over the years Luisa D'Amato.

There are two reasons that I am resurrecting this decade old post of mine namely once again the Board's behaviour. Board as in the controlling mind(s) of the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB). Not the Trustees. Now one and two decades ago I knew the specific names of the as..oles who were the controlling minds of the WRDSB. Often short males with an outsize ego, minimal ethics and a penchant for abusing power. Oh also cowardly and I don't think fraudulent is too inaccurate although there may well be a better word that escapes me at the moment. What I mean regarding “fraudulent” is the use of taxpayer funds for improper purposes namely paying lawyers to harass and intimidate parents or others with legitimate educational concerns and criticisms.

   Teacher Carolyn Burjowski and I believe trustee Michael Ramsay currently are on the receiving end of the WRDSB's viciousness or as reporter Luisa D”Amato calls it “...the board's culture of hostility to dissent...”. When will gutless, self-serving politicians of all stripes and levels (municipal, regional, provincial, federal) get off their butts and actually advocate for their constituents? Is the WRDSB so powerful that they are totally unaccountable? I don't think so. What an opportunity for the provincial Conservative government to step in and take a serious round out of our local board. While they're at it they might also examine why the Teachers' Union are missing in action. It is their duty and responsibility to defend unwarranted assaults upon their members which Ms. Burjowski certainly was when this started.