– Page 34 – – District School Board of Niagara

Not A Burden For Our Son To Carry – “Equity Issues”
Timeline: October 21, 2021 – November 02, 2021

34.1 Remember in the previous Page 33 when it was sated “And when Kevin Maddalena finally had to allow work to go home with the applicant to get help him improving his skills and marks. Kevin Maddalena made it very clear that it would NOT be graded.”

34.2 On October 18, 2021 the applicant brought home Chapter 5 work sheets for the book Fatty Legs to get some help improving his skills and abilities. Kevin Maddalena was aware and okay with it

34.3 Two days later Kevin Maddalena confirms on October 20, 2021 in his email that it was” Not a problem” with the applicant bringing the Fatty Legs work home and getting help to complete it.

34.4 And now suddenly overnight on October 21, 2021, literally out of the thin blue skies, without warning, without cause, without provocation. Kevin Maddalena now has a serious issues with the same Black child/student completing ANY FORM OF SCHOOL WORK at home?

From: Kevin Maddalena Kevin.Maddalena@dsbn.org
Dated: October 21, 2021

Good morning …, Moving forward, any work that is completed at home cannot be assessed for a grade because of equity issues. You and your son are able to look through the novel and refine answers after a mark has been given, but not to hand in to be graded. A lot of factors come in to play when work is being done at home (technology and internet, as well as help from parents and guardians, etc) and some students may not receive as much help as others, which is why I am unable to grade things going home. Please let me know if you have any questions. Talk to you soon.

To: Kevin Maddalena Kevin.Maddalena@dsbn.org
Dated: October 21, 2021

First, I am not sure why your school wants to address me by my first name? We are not friends nor are we family. I do not disrespect you by using your first name. Please stop referencing me by my first name. I do not care if society and your school thinks it is okay to be this casual between parents and teachers, I do not! You are a professional; I am Mr. to you, as you are Mr. Maddalena me.

Next… What are you talking about, “equity issues?” Do you want to travel down this road with me? Only 50 percent of all Grade 6 students were able to pass the EQAO mathematics exam for the second straight year, the province’s EQAO in 2017. The number of Grade 3 students and Grade 9 applied math students that met the standard both declined by 1 percent compared to last year. Despite the Ontario Government putting an additional; $60 million in place to try and improve mathematics performance the year before. What is your view of “equity” on this?

• Did you speak out against your fellow teachers for their poor professional conduct?
• Did you speak out against your fellow teachers on their inability to teach 50% of their class math?
• Did you speak out against the “equity” that obviously does not exist for the 50 percent that failed?

No, you did not, because very few teachers care about what goes on in the classroom because there is no accountability for poor job performance.

I wish I could only do 50% of my job and get to keep it. Have every summer off, far too many benefits, and be overpaid. Oh yeah, and a union that tries to convince individuals that the failure of the children is not the result of the teacher’s inability to teach 50% of them, but it is a lack of resources. Yes, I heard that pencils, paper, and books were in short supply for the past decade.

The fact that you think using technology is cheating is ridiculous. From this point on, I will tell our son not to use a tablet or a computer at school because that is cheating and that it is assisting him in unnatural ways of learning. Do you understand that the kids have been getting assistance from technology for decades? They do test on computers, they learn about technology. This is not something I just made up, the Ontario school system has had children using technology to learn for decades and now it is cheating in your classroom?

You call it “equity issues” because our son has parents who care about his marks, and he is at faulted for learning online and will not be graded because he has access to the internet and supporting parents. You imply that he is cheating on his Fatty Legs Chapter 5 book report because he did it at home and on a computer. How dare our son try to present the best work possible! How dare he admit that he used Grammarly to help him express his ideas! How dare our son not think that using a computer and having assistance from his parents was not cheating! Clearly, his entire grade 7 mark was being based on these four simple questions about a book. How could he not see the significant of the moment? How could he not see the importance of not cheating?

Seriously, why don’t you try using the old-school method? It is called a test. This book report was not a test, despite you wanting to try and portray that it was. I very much understand that this seems to be the classic, the black kid has to be cheating, and his parents had to write his four questions response for him because he is not educated enough to do it on his own. I mean, it has been written by an adult with all those big words like community, children, and opportunity.

If you cannot determine what has been written by a child versus an adult, I would strongly suggest you find a new profession with less complicated assessments involved. Or maybe this is deeper; maybe you want our son to continue to do bad/fail giving you the opportunity to hold him down and not succeed? I hardly doubt that using technology to answer four questions in a book review implies that our son and his family tried to cheat to obtain a perfect 4 out of 4.

We want our son to do well in school, but I seriously don’t think helping him answer four questions would warrant you implying he is cheating. Heaven forbid that our son is not “equity issues” deprived. Instead, he has parents who can assist him in his learning on how to write correctly because from looking at your comments on his work, God knows your class does not teach him.

• Where was your concern that “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice when ONLY 50 percent of Grade 6 students were unable to pass mathematics for the second straight year, the province’s EQAO in 2017?

• Where was your “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice when the Peel board had to ensure now that Black students have a fair route into elite academic programs?

• Where were your “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice about the lack of access to appropriate reading materials and supportive relationships with teachers and administrators in Ontario for Black students?

• Where was your “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice when 16-year-old Selena Osunde walked out of class because her school board was not doing enough to address anti-Black racism in her school hallways towards her?

• Where was your “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice when the director of the IB program at my daughter’s previous high school told my daughter that she should drop out because of a low, not failing English mark? Telling her that she did not belong, despite being accepted as only one of the 100 students out of the thousand plus who applied?

Would you like me to quote you more instances? Maybe we can talk about the indigenous students and residential schools, or maybe Asian students?

Do not sit there and preach about “equity” when you work for a provincial school system that has openly used systemic racism as a form of learning.

Why don’t you tell me what you have done to make the system more “equity” for non-Caucasian children?

You also understand that this same technology you claim our son will use to cheat is the same technology you use to make your job easier. Essentially you are cheating because you rely on technology to prep all your material to present and give to students. When was the last time you created anything original for the students? Teachers cut and paste everything today; there is no original work anymore. Is that not cheating? You are cheating the system by using someone else work. But that is okay because it makes it easier for you! Why don’t you stop using technology and go back to classic pen and paper and book learning? You know where you have to write on a chalkboard. Create your own original work to give to students.

Let me explain to you, our son will do his work at home, and it will be marked fairly and properly. I will not allow you to imply that that the only reason our son is doing his work at home is so he can cheat! The fact that you believe that being helped by your parents and using technology is a form of cheating is absurd. You need to understand you are an elementary school teacher; you are not a university professor. So let’s not try to make you more important than you are! Worrying about cheating on four questions for a book report by a grade 7 student should not be the first thing on your mind at 7:59 am on a Thursday morning.

• Where was your concern that “some students may not receive as much help as others” and your voice for the past year and a half when students were doing their work online? How come nobody cared about “equity” then?

• Oh, maybe you can ask your principal Christopher McInnis or Vice-principal Jacqueline Ravazzolo, where their “equity” was when our son was guilted into apologizing to his bully after standing up; for himself after being told “You are worthless” and “You should kill yourself!”

Viewing the way you mark our sons work, it is clear that you put the minimum amount of effort to explain to him anything on how to write a proper sentence or write a good paragraph.

I hardly doubt that a parent teaching their child how to write correctly is a form of cheating. But I guess this must be the case because our son has been in school for nine years and still can’t write properly despite being in your classroom.

Whose fault is it that children, after nine years in school, still cannot write a complete sentence or paragraph and cannot express their thoughts properly through text? Hmm, let me think about this. The same grade 7 class that is still doing grade 3 patterned work for math. It is your system that failed our son, not our son failing you!

• I guess my 1st mistake was allowing and trusting the school system in Ontario to teach our son how to write proper sentences and paragraphs by the time he was 12 years old.

• I guess my 2nd mistakenly believed that the school system treats every student fairly and equally.

• I guess my 3rd mistake was working.

You can be like Christopher McInnis and Jacqueline Ravazzolo and sit there and “assure you that I have never been in a more welcoming and positive school than Connaught” and that all conflicts are tried to be solved peacefully so that both sides win, including the kid who tells another student “You are worthless” and “You should kill yourself.”

Mr. Maddalena, how often have you been told you were worthless and should kill yourself as a 12 years old? How many times have you been discriminated against by a school system that openly admits to doing it? Do you want to travel down this road with me?

Again it seems to me that you’re deliberately setting the tables against our son to give him a bad mark for the year because you deliberately are refusing to mark his work. After all, he is using technology to better himself. Or maybe we could be doing the hero routine, where you lowball our son for marks and eventually begin to mark him fairly and claim that you made him a significantly better student than when he started. I mean, that was an everyday routine by Ms. Richard’s, another teacher, years back.

From the beginning of the school year, I have continued to ask you to send homework in math, science, and all you’ve done is nothing. I don’t care if “Reading comprehension, in your opinion, and is extremely important skill across all subjects it is the basis of everything” It is irrelevant because reading doesn’t help you understand math formulas. Knowing how to spell the word GREAT does not help you understand how to do vectors. Again what you have done for our son is the bare minimum if fulfilling my request to help our son achieve great marks. The first time you sent him home with a book about sharks for reading and comprehension. The second time you gave him a book and some photocopied pages and stated,” Work through it at your own pace” Did not even bother to want to review it.

I am at the point I think I will just buy a domain and create a website with all this correspondence from everyone and show everyone what this school is all about. I am getting tired of arguing with you individuals over stupid and unnecessary things. Your job is to teach our son, not call him a cheater. I am cool with you coming up with a bullshit excuse of “equity issues” in an attempt to prevent him from learning and getting excellent marks. I will be telling our son tonight not to do any more book reports at school, that he is to bring them home to be done with me so I can help him and not do the bare minimum when giving him advice.

If you choose not to mark it, that is your choice. Because in the end, our son is not going to continue to get poor marks in your class because you refuse to accept that he is not a cheater and that we as his parents are not that desperate that we need to write an answer to four questions for him to get excellent marks. We are confident enough in our son ability to know that he can do it independently, with some positive assistance from individuals who really want to help him.

Why are you not willing to put that extra time in to help our son? Is it because you don’t like my tone when speaking to you? Maybe because he is Black, or maybe you don’t care in general if he learns or not? But again, It seems that you are deliberately setting our son up for low marks for his report cards because you’ve made no genuine attempts to give him any homework in the topics you are covering at that moment in your classroom.

And believe it or not, when these children go to high school they’re going to have to use computers and the internet to do their school work. So I’m not sure why you seem to think that using technology and the internet is cheating? These Ontario School Boards have done nothing for the last year and a half but issue premade work online that these students find cheat sheets for because teachers are too lazy to sit down and create an original piece of work for them to do. So again, don’t lecture me on “equity.” What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander.

It’s incredible how you have a double standard. Instead of teaching on a chalkboard, writing on an overhead projector, and handing out original created work, you want to use technology for all your work instead of teaching on a chalkboard. Instead, you want to use technology in your favor because it’s convenient for you. But when a child wants to use technology to learn how to do something properly, it is suddenly called cheating by you!

34.5 Four days had passed before Kevin Maddalena decided how to respond to the parents email. When he responds, he does so by reiterating what he already said in his initial email. He seems to be trying to persuade himself into believing that his earlier remarks had been misinterpreted even though he continues to confirm what the parents stated which confuses the parents even more.

From: Kevin Maddalena Kevin.Maddalena@dsbn.org
Dated: October 25, 2021

That is not what I meant by implying there were equity issues. Some families do not have access to internet, technology or to help at home, so it is not fair for everyone. If you would like to discuss this further, please call the school and I will be happy to have a conversation with you.

To: Kevin Maddalena Kevin.Maddalena@dsbn.org
Dated: October 25, 2021

That is precisely what you meant! “A lot of factors come in to play when work is being done at home (technology and internet, as well as help from parents and guardians, etc) and some students may not receive as much help as others, which is why I am unable to grade things going home.” And my last email addressed it accordingly.

Let me make this very clear to you, in case you have not figured it out. I do not care about any other child’s education! If their parents choose not to help their child, that is not mine or his moms problem.
Also, everyone has access to the internet as basic internet is undoubtedly affordable and accessible to all. And again, if their home does not have internet, that is not our sons problem! Your excuses to deny our son the ability to learn through his parents is ridiculous and absurd. I have instructed our son not to do any more Fatty Legs work until you realize that other family’s loyalty to our children and their financial situation at home are not a burden for our son to carry around regarding his ability and access to learning tools.

It boggles my mind that you are so backwards for being a teacher? I will be requesting our son be removed from your class immediately as you are doing nothing more than trying to set our son up to fail in school and in life. You are too ignorant, uneducated, and out of touch to be teaching my son! I have better things to do with my time than argue with someone who thinks that by parents helping their children learn is considered cheating is more than I am willing to deal with.

You believe that our son should suffer because not all parents care about their children’s education the same as we do. I cannot even begin to understand your logic? You are biased because our son could excel in your class, and you don’t like that idea. For what reason is only known to you?

34.6 In order to make this crystal clear. Kevin Maddalena believes “A lot of factors come into play when work is being done at home (technology and internet, as well as help from parents and guardians, etc),”

34.7 Kevin Maddalena is trying to make it so the applicant is unable to obtain and properly complete his school work at home. Yes, what you just read is true! Despite promising to do so at the beginning of the year, the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena will not help a struggling student learn and understand what they are studying in class by giving them homework or allowing them to continue their unfinished work at home.

34.8 In the event that a student, such as the applicant is unable to complete their schoolwork in class due to their inability to understand what they are doing. The DSBN and Kevin Maddalena forbid them from taking their school work home to finish it with maybe some assistance. The unfinished work must be postponed until the next day so the student can start the day off behind the rest of the class and is expect to catch up without issue.

34.9 But now when that student attends high school, the DSBN philosophy changes. The DSBN is suddenly fine with students completing their schoolwork at home AND NOW ONLINE. Teachers frequently assign homework that mandates students finish it before their next class by using the internet and computers at home.

34.10 Remember Kevin Maddalena stated “A lot of factors come in to play when work is being done at home (technology and internet, as well as help from parents and guardians, etc) and some students may not receive as much help as others, which is why I am unable to grade things going home…. Some families do not have access to internet, technology or to help at home, so it is not fair for everyone.”

At what point did the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena decide that children getting their education was now a competition?
At what point did the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena decide that children who progress faster than other students must be limited in their learning curves?
And at what point did the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena decide that having access to the internet while at home was consider to be “equity issues” and cheating?
And at what point did the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena decide that having access to caring family members to assist their children with school work was consider to be “equity issues” and cheating?
And at what point did the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena decide these “equity issues” were to become a burden and a barrier for students like the applicant to prevent them from learning and bettering themselves?

34.11 Keep in mind that the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena want it to be “fair for everyone.” That means if your child can thrive and outperform other students who barely manage to pass the class. It is considered to be an “equity issue” and that is not tolerated by the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena.

34.12 Therefore the DSBN will subsequently have to figure out ways to slow your child down from learning as they are progressing far faster than then their classmates. It not fair that your child has better resources and a caring family to help them at home.

34.13 Does anyone not realize how ridicules and outlandish this sounds? Is there anyone who thinks that the DSBN and Kevin Maddalena bullshit excuse was just that, bullshit in an attempt to justify their behavior against a Black child/student?

34.14 The parents sent an email to Mary Anne Gage about this issue

To: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: November 12, 2021
November 25, 2021

I would now like to know the position of the DSBN in regards to the ability of children doing school work at home as Mr. Maddalena states that “ANY work that is completed at home cannot be assessed for a grade because of equity issues… A lot of factors come in to play when work is being done at home (technology and internet, as well as help from parents and guardians, etc) and some students may not receive as much help as others, which is why I am unable to grade things going home. “

At what point in the history of this country did doing school at home become a “equity issue” against parents how want to help their children do good in school?

34.15 And Mary Anne Gage response was,

From: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: December 23, 2021

Hello, I am responding to your email sent to the Director’s office last week enquiring about the evaluation of homework. I can provide some information that is referenced in the ‘Growing Success – Assessment , Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools’ document that is used in Ontario schools as a guide for teachers regarding homework:

Homework tasks are designed to help students practice and consolidate new learning and can also provide assessment information that both teachers and students can use to adjust instruction and focus learning. To ensure equity for all students, assignments for evaluation and tests or exams are to be completed, whenever possible, under the supervision of a teacher.”

It appears that Mary Anne Gage is trying to wish into existence that the work that the applicant brought home to finish off was considered to be a “assignment for evaluation, test or exams

To: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: December 23, 2021

“To ensure equity for all students, assignments for evaluation and tests or exams are to be completed, whenever possible, under the supervision of a teacher.”

So let me make sure I understand. The reason our son is not given any homework thought an entire school year is because all school work is considered to be an assignment, evaluation, test or an exam?
So no extra work is giving any more to students so they can practice what they’ve learned in school just for the sake of practicing.

Anything that is given out must be done at school, because every piece of work that is assigned to a student in the DSBN school system is now considered to be an assignment, evaluation, test or an exam. Therefore the DSBN no longer gives out homework when parents ask?

SOUNDS LIKE TO ME THAT TEACHERS HAVE GOTTEN LAZY AND DON’T WANT TO CHECK EXTRA WORK BECAUSE THEIR CONTRACT DOESN’T SPECIFICALLY STATE THAT THEY SHOULD!

From: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: January 12, 2022

Hello, Since the questions you are posing are specific to your son’s experience while at Connaught, I would like to again suggest that you reach out to the school administrators and/or your son’s teacher to engage in conversation so your concerns can be addressed. I have spoken with the principal, Mrs. Ravazzolo and she is more than willing to speak with you and work together in the best interest of your son.

To: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: January 12, 2022 X 2

Well since I cannot get a straight answer from anyone then a secretary. I will make this a little easier for you to understand. If a student is falling behind in school and is struggling with the material. Why is it considered not appropriate to give them homework in grade school but is okay in high school? Why does the issue of “equity” not exist then? Sounds to me like a double standard? Is it not the same school board?

From: Mary Anne Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: January 12, 2022

Hello, We ask that you kindly reach out to Mrs. Ravazzolo to discuss your questions regarding homework. She is happy to provide some clarity and also believes that having a conversation, rather than back-and-forth emails, will help to establish positive, open dialogue moving forward.

34.16 As we once again observe the pattern of the DSBN and its workers refusing and doing everything in their power not to address a concern raised by the parents regarding their son. What does Mary Anne Gage do instead? She tries to make them seek answers with the same Kevin Maddalena who started this issue and has obviously not provided any form of rational support for his claims.

34.17 And in place of Mary Anne Gage carrying out her duties and making an effort to actually support the parents. She once more tries to make them interact with Jacqueline Ravazzolo, who clearly had discriminated against their Black son by forcing him to apologize to the Caucasian bully.

34.18 And now Kevin Maddalena is in the middle of this predicament of getting multiple emails from the parents, being silent for more than a year, and completely ignoring them. And in an unexpected move, he was now prepared to defend his boss Jacqueline Ravazzolo by sharing his version of events which basically called the applicant a liar!

34.19 What part of Mary Anne Gage’s wild imagine does it play out that it would be beneficial for the parents to inquire about their son’s education or schooling from these same racist DSBN employees?

34.20 When the parents enquired about matters connected to the behavior of her DSBN staff, Mary Anne Gage had no trouble interjecting herself and raising interference. However, as soon as the parents want more information regarding their son’s ability to learning. Mary Anne Gage suddenly wants nothing to do with it and tries to pigeon hole them back to the people who created this situation and did nothing but target and discriminate against their son.

34.21 Is it not Mary Anne Gage’s responsibility as a School Trustee to be able to respond responsibly to questions of this nature? Does she not have the ability to obtain this knowledge if she is unable to do so? Of course she does; she just chose bullshit the parents and, when corrected, she then diverted the subject back to Jacqueline Ravazzolo and Kevin Maddalena because she knew that it would end there. You know, circle the wagons and hold your ground!

34.22 Mary Anne Gage utilized the alliance between Jacqueline Ravazzolo, Kevin Maddalena, and the poisoned relationship with the parents as an excuse to wipe her hands clean of the issues that the parents raised.

34.23 The only remaining concern was whether Jacqueline Ravazzolo and Kevin Maddalena were aware that she had redirected the issue back onto them? Or was it a coordinated effort to quiet the parents and use the poisoned relationship as a means of achieving their goal—avoiding having to answer the parents’ follow-up questions?

34.24 Currently reading the email from Mary Anne Gage, which was sent on December 23, 2021. Mary Anne Gage stated that “homework tasks” do exist, but steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that the Fatty Legs chapter response of four questions was just precisely that a “homework tasks!”

34.25 Mary Anne Gage seems to think, like Kevin Maddalena, that if she says something enough times, it will ultimately come into existence, even though it was obviously NOT an “assignment for evaluation and tests or exams.” And in an effort to protect Kevin Maddalena from criticism for his prejudiced actions and lies, it appears that Mary Anne Gage thinks she can bullshit the parents into accepting her lies.

34.26 This is the epitome of the phrase one hand washes the other, which refers to a situation in which two people assist one another, cooperate to achieve a common objective, or trade favors.

34.27 Mary Anne Gage helps Kevin Maddalena and is always there for him when he needs her. And Kevin Maddalena will repay the favor in the future when Mary Anne Gage contacts him.

34.28 This explains why, a full year later, Mary Anne Gage states that Kevin Maddalena abruptly and impulsively showed up at a meeting between the same Black child/student in support of his racist supervisor Jacqueline Ravazzolo.

34.29 The applicant’s grades in this case are unimportant to the DSBN, Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Anne Gage, and Kevin Maddalena. In fact, they made a deliberate effort to avoid assisting him so he could not stay up to par with the other students in the class.

34.30 The DSBN, Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Anne Gage and Kevin Maddalena have never tried to help the applicant with his studies or carried out their obligation to inform the applicant’s parents of any potential issues with his grades.

34.31 Why? Because applicant is Black, to put it simply!

34.32 And what better way is there to interfere with Black students’ education? Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Anne Gage, and Kevin Maddalena are “professionals” who are well aware of the challenges that Black children/students face inside the DSBN and the Ontario educational system.

34.33 They therefore they made the conscious decision to raise the stakes in an effort to further restrict the applicant’s capacity to learn and value education. Additionally, they tried to put more roadblocks and impediments in the way of a racialized child/student rather than help them traverse the system equally.

34.34 They instead chose to ignore the parent’s queries and concerns until numerous emails were sent to them, at which point they realized they had no choice but to respond with a vague and unclear message.

34.35 Whether you like it or not, the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki Organizational Whiteness party at the DSBN, lack the resources and willingness to assist racialized students when issues arise.

34.36 We have observed how the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki have successfully marketed and hired only a particular race and gender to run their schools. And as a result of this, Caucasian students have many more doors they can open and use to navigate the school system. Racialized students, like the applicant are not afforded these same Caucasian privileges.

34.37 Therefore, when Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Anne Gage and Kevin Maddalena tried to take away and limit as many opportunities from a racialized student and his parents as they could, so as to lower his ability to get help and better his skills. Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Anne Gage and Kevin Maddalena knew that the applicant would feel it much more significantly in the end than a Caucasian student would.

34.38 The DSBN, Warren Hoshizaki, Christopher McInnis, Mary Anne Gage, Kevin Maddalena and Jacqueline Ravazzolo never expect the applicant and his parents to have the type of relationship where both parents are actively involved in his day to day activities while at school.

34.39 It appears that they might have thought that the applicant’s father was Black and believed the racist stereotype that he was a deadbeat father who was not there for his son.

34.40 Whereas with the applicant parents from the beginning have always been very actively involved with their children’s education. Asking the applicant and his sister every day what’s new? Anything happen today? What did you learn? Do you have any school work to be completed? Due to racist and prejudiced organizations like the DSBN and the bias culture and individuals within like Warren Hoshizaki, Christopher McInnis, Mary Anne Gage, Kevin Maddalena and Jacqueline Ravazzolo.

34.41 Their behavior against a racialized student in an effort to protect a Caucasian bully like Marcus and themselves is the reason why the applicant’s parents must ALWAYS be vigilant and ask many questions every day.

34.42 The facts are that Caucasian children and their parents with in the DSBN get the privilege of not having to worry about a bias or the targeting of their Caucasian children based on their complexion.

34.43 And it can most certainly be guaranteed that no Caucasian parent has ever claimed that their Caucasian child experienced discrimination because of his skin while attending a DSBN school.

34.44 And it can almost most certainly be guaranteed that no Caucasian parent has ever claimed that their Caucasian child was being deliberately held back with their education and their enjoyment of school because of his skin while attending a DSBN school.

34.45 The only question here is why are there so many individuals willing to go out of their way NOT to help the applicant?

The applicant is a well behaved student.
Extremely polite and friendly.
He thrives on trying to get great marks.
Gets along with everyone, even teachers.
Enjoys praise and accolades from students and DSBN staff.
Is extremely respectful of individuals and DSBN staff.
Really enjoys helping other students and DSBN staff when asked.
Makes “contributions in the classroom and he has made a great addition this year.”

34.46 So what other possible motivation outside of the applicant complexion could there be that required so much attention to hurting his ability to learn and his educational experience?

34.47 The applicant is an ideal student in any classroom you could put him in. And there is absolutely nothing about him personality that can be disliked.

34.48 It is clear that Kevin Maddalena had no reason to dislike the applicant due to a bad attitude, unruly behavior or annoying presence. The applicant has always been as Kevin Maddalena stated in a phone call to the parents “a role model for other students.”

34.49 Individuals like Kevin Maddalena and organizations like the DSBN affect almost every aspect of racialized individual’s daily life. Research shows that racialized individuals are offered fewer opportunities in higher education and employment than Caucasian people.

Black people are treated more harshly and less politely than Caucasian people.
Black people receive compromised medical treatment compared to Caucasian people.
And even as romantic partners, Black people are considered less desirable then Caucasian people.

Read Mor – How Disparities In Health Care Hurt Black And Indigenous Peoples

34.50 Remember when Kevin Maddalena sluffed of the repeated abusive behavior of the Caucasian bully Marcus to the applicant with the “You need to get use to his (Marcus) behavior” and the “swearing” as this was normal behavior for him.

34.51 Kevin Maddalena went out of his way at that time to protect Marcus behavior by trying to justify it as normal behavior, so get used to it. Kevin Maddalena should have said at the VERY LOW of the spectrum, but did not; – If Marcus bothers you again, you come and see me and let me know!

34.52 Instead the applicant just got another version of the same old “find something else to do and stay away from him… (You) should play somewhere else.”

34.53 Kevin Maddalena did make sure to find the time to encourage and promote the applicant NOT to enforce his right NOT to be bullied at school. And instead Kevin Maddalena decided to tell the applicant indirectly – Leave me alone with this shit and suck it up!

34.54 I wonder if the race roles were reversed would Kevin Maddalena have told a Caucasian Marcus to just ignore the Black applicant and his cruel and hurtful words and actions and just get used to it and move on?

34.55 NO HE WOULD NOT! All three of them would have left for the office immediately.

34.56 It is obvious that Kevin Maddalena was trying everything in his power to make it difficult for the applicant to learn and enjoy school. Kevin Maddalena had numerous instances to assist and help the Black applicant with his problems, but he declined to help him EVERY TIME!

34.57 Kevin Maddalena attempted to obstruct and interfere with the applicant’s already underprivileged Black education while attending the DSBN’s long-standing sexist, racist, and discriminatory recruiting and promoting practices, which were overseen by Warren Hoshizaki and brought forward by The Turner Consulting Group.

34.58 Kevin Maddalena was able to clearly see what was happening in his 98% Caucasian Connaught Public School workforce which put him at was at ease enough to use his plan to hunt and target one of his Black students.

34.59 The applicant is an excellent student who would fit in well, in any classroom. In spite of this, Kevin Maddalena who is aware that the system is already rigged against the Black student. Is seeking to undermine the Black student’s educational experience and ability to learn for some unknown personal belief.

34.60 Kevin Maddalena showed no consideration for the applicant’s shortcomings within the Ontario Educational System or the DSBN. Nor did he care about the applicant safety and physical and mental well-being. In reality, he attempted to add more unfavorable experiences and barriers to what the applicant had already encountered at the DSBN by using it as leverage as he attempted to add more on top of it all!

Not A Burden For Our Son To Carry – “Equity Issues”Timeline: October 21, 2021 – November 02, 2021

Not A Burden For Our Son To Carry – “Equity Issues”
Timeline: October 21, 2021 – November 02, 2021