School board has no plan to impose dress code on transgender Oakville teacher
Published February 28, 2023 at 4:46 pm
Those expecting a dress code to be imposed upon a controversial transgender Oakville teacher will be disappointed with a report coming before the Halton District School Board (HDSB).
Instead, tomorrow night’s (March 1) scheduled meeting of the board will see a report presented that will ask for several more months of processes and consultations before a strategy on how to proceed is found.
In early January of this year, board trustees asked Director of Education Curtis Ennis to come up with a dress code and decorum policy for staff following months of controversy surrounding Oakville Trafalgar High School teacher Kayla Lemieux who has been wearing what appear to be greatly exaggerated false breasts, tight dresses and a blonde wig to classrooms.
The attire has brought worldwide attention to the school, along with bomb threats and often a police presence due to those who disagree with Lemieux and want to see her removed from her job.
Others, including parent groups, have taken a more traditional approach to protest by actively lobbying trustees to make changes, as well as threatening legal action against the board over its perceived inaction.
Initially, the board determined that human rights and labour laws prevented it from interfering with Lemieux but since then, Ontario’s Education Minister Steve Lecce, backed by a determination by the Ontario College of Teachers, has weighed in, saying the HDSB has the right to expect and enforce rules of decorum in the classroom.
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The report that trustees will be presented with on Wednesday determines that a specific policy on a dress code cannot be enforced at this time because of contract negations with teachers’ unions that prevent changes to working conditions.
Instead, the report says it will ask the opinion of other teachers, parents and students through a survey before finalizing a policy. It has not been determined how long that will take.
The board has been careful not to link the report or any policy decisions directly to Lemieux.
Meanwhile, Lemieux has denied that photos recently displayed in a New York newspaper were of her.
The New York Post printed photos of a person it claimed was Lemieux dressed as a man without the wig and large breasts.
However, Lemieux has since stated the photos are not of her, claiming that her breasts are real and caused by a genetic condition called gigantomastia which causes breasts to grow extremely large.
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