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To: Janice Sargeant janice.sargeant@dsbn.org
Warren Hoshizaki warren.hoshizaki@dsbn.org
Mary Ann Gage maryanne.gage@dsbn.org
Dated: November 04, 2023

And here we have the DSBN and is racist workforce culture again suggesting that our Black son should give up his right to attend “a safe and inclusive school.” Remember two years ago;

The Caucasian bully Marcus was taunting the applicant by childishly trying to imitate his actions while outside in the playground. When the applicant did not respond to the bully Marcus attempts to get his attention. The Caucasian bully Marcus escalated the situation by shoving the applicant to get a reaction.

The applicant attempted to get assistance from Connaught Public School staff outside in the playground to help cope with the Caucasian Marcus and his harassment and bullying of him. The applicant was advised by Connaught Public School staff that he “should play somewhere else.”

The staff from Connaught Public School at that time did not attempt or care to call Marcus over to speak to him and correct him regarding his bullying and mean behavior. Connaught Public School staff also did not bother to do any further investigation past the applicant’s first concerns.

A few days later the applicant again attempted to ask Connaught Public School staff outside for assistance for a second time regarding Marcus’s persistently following him around the schoolyard and tormenting him. Again the applicant was advised by Connaught Public School staff to “find something else to do and keep away from him.”

Let us note that the applicant has now approached Connaught Public School staff outside twice in regards to the Caucasian bully Marcus and his harassment and bullying and NO ONE from Connaught Public School could be bothered to look into it, or talk to Marcus about it, or contact the office.

It is amazing how we have completed the circle and ended up in the exact situation that started it all.

And now you, Warren Hoshizaki and Mary Ann Gage want to request that we permit you to “re-integrate” our son into the same geography class where other students have humiliated him, tormented him and forced him to endure racial slurs while a DSBN employee acknowledges that he sat back and did nothing.

Also remembering that not a single person in the geography class, except for our son’s two friends from Connaught Public School, has tried to interact or become friends with our son. And you expect us to back this ridicules notion of re-integrating him with these selfish students?

If our son sees us endorsing your interpretation of “find something else to do and keep away from him” now known as FIND SOMEHERE ELSE TO PLACE HIM AND KEEP HIM AWAY FROM THEM! What sort of message do you believe this conveys to him from us about him being the victim in this situation?

Similar to Jacqueline Ravazzolo, the DSBN, Warren Hoshizaki, Mary Ann Gage and you too, readily perceive our son as the cause of your racist problems, rather than the victim.

Remember when Jacqueline Ravazzolo treated our son as if he was the bully under the “Progressive discipline” mandated policy, where “addressing bullying, principals use a progressive discipline approach. Using Ontario’s progressive discipline policy, a principal can choose from a range of options to address the behavior and help the student learn from their choices. Progressive discipline options can include: AN APOLOGY….”

https://www.ontario.ca/page/bullying-we-can-all-help-stop-it

Our son found your “options” to be quite upsetting when we talked with him about it. Our son asked why he was “being treated like the bully again? Would they like me to also apologize to them?”

It’s incredible that a fourteen-year-old teen can recognize the racist culture and patterns of the DSBN, and three allegedly racist, alert individuals, who are now engaging in the same behavior that sparked the entire controversy two years ago.

And what could you possibly say or do to make sure that it doesn’t go any worse than it already has? Will you make the students be his friends against their will? Tell them they must be nice to him? Maybe you could ask them to allow him to come to their birthday parties?

You acknowledged that the teacher had discussed this behavior with the class and what had transpired? Nothing at all! You know why? Because these students don’t give a FUCK what this teacher says, plain and simple!

Keep in mind that actions speak significantly louder than words. Something you should have performed on September 25, 2023 but declined to do: take appropriate action!

And you three think our son would want to go back to a place where he is not welcomed?

It is absolutely disgusting to see how blatantly ignorant you three are of what it means to be Black in your racist school board. You ought to feel ashamed for even approaching our son and our family with such mocking solutions to our son’s dilemma.

You want to refer to your proposal as a “options” but in reality. It is a form of punishment towards our son for standing up for his rights to be “supported and reassured that Thorold Secondary is a safe and inclusive school.”

Punishment because he had the “expectation that in this class and in the school your top priorities are to ensure that everyone feels safe, respected, and comfortable. As such, it is the expectations that students use respectful language and behavior at ALL times.”

Do you three really think that we, his parents, will punish our son by forcing him to return to this prejudice geography classroom? Or as an alternative, he should complete his schoolwork while sitting in isolation resource room, where he can now reflect on how unjust this whole situation has been for him!

If anything, your ridiculous “options” are worse for him than him dropping the class and losing a credit. At least he is not being treated like the problem, hidden away or subjected to prejudice and hostility while being at home!

That being said, Ontario school boards are not new to type of racist behavior. The label of the problem always falls on the back of the Black student.

It is apparent that you need to review our material again and click on the links as it appears you simply cannot accept the reality that your racist actions and “options” are exactly the same as those of Jacqueline Ravazzolo and even Donald Trump!

Do you genuinely think that as his parents, we should stand back and watch helplessly while the DSBN treats our son so cruelly? Basically asking him to accept blame (apologize) and now comply with your ridiculous “options?”

Are you three genuinely of the opinion that the greatest remedies you can possibly think of are to force our son to study by himself in a room separate from everyone else, or to return to that ignorant and hostile setting?

And this is where the DSBN’s racist culture lies: you three refuse to admit or understand what it is like to be Black student in a system that was created to keep you behind and confined.

This is the reason why you have refused to handle this very unpleasant circumstance for our son in a way that ANY independent third party could interpret it as impartial and fair.

Rather than dealing with the prejudice students and bullies in his class and doing the right thing. You would rather that our son spends a quarter if his day being segregated in isolation in a room, studying for a General Learning Strategies credit and not even his geography credit. Once more, why do you treat our son like the bully/the problem instead of the victim that he truly is?

And instead of offering our son, who is the victim any actual remedies. You three provide a ridiculous, absurd and impractical notion in an attempt to hide the fact that you did not upholding our son’s rights to a “safe and inclusive learning environment.”

Do you three really think that that the best “options” any of you could come up with was to isolate our son as if he were the distraction/the problem that needed to be taken out of the classroom?

Is there a rationale behind why these bullies have not received the same “options?” Perhaps this would allow them to take a well-earned break and make good use of their time by thinking back on their own cruel behavior and actions. But it is clear that these student bullies should be able to carry on with their lives and education undisrupted.

Rather than provide solutions such as transferring to a different school, collecting work from his teacher and bringing it home to complete and returning or even online learning. You determined that keeping him hidden and isolated in some spare learning room as being the best “options.” It is obvious that the game of attempting to instigate us to remove our son from the DSBN system is still in progress.

The amazing thing is that three supposedly competent individuals best thoughts were to isolate a Black student, the victim, to a room by himself, because he was subjected to verbal abuse, taunts and racial slurs by his class while a teacher watch on and did nothing!

And when you were confronted with this problem, you should have handled it, but you chose not to address it. And these two black students who were unintentionally protected when you chose to ignore this racist incident in order to protect your Caucasian student.

These same black students and additionally more Caucasian students later decided to target our son over two days with extremely inappropriate and hurtful words and actions.

Again, your best course of action is for our son to return to these same abusive students or to isolate him as though he is a burden, because it is simpler to hide the Black student than it to deal with the student’s unprovoked aggression towards him.

You, Warren Hoshizaki and Mary Ann Gage seem to refuse to be unwilling to acknowledge or understand that it is extremely difficult for Black students, like our son to survive in your Caucasian school system because of these exact types of actions.

We are tired of the phony promises and feed up with the lies. If you don’t intend to walk the walk, than don’t talk the talk. Because our son WILL NOT BE subjected to your racist system’s attempts of annihilation of Black student’s education. So the sooner you people can grasp that a student’s skin tone should have absolutely no greater bearing on their education than the color of their eyes. The sooner this issue starts to get resolved.

No matter how much you three try, you will not run out, push out our son from the DSBN system. You have seriously look to us to help you “find another solution!” The same system that two years ago, brought about these same types of racism issues that still exist in your school today.

The roles that you and Mary Anne Gage occupy do not come as a surprise. Given how deliberately tone deaf you two are when it comes to understanding and dealing with racism. It is obvious that the DSBN, Warren Hoshizaki with their discriminatory and sexist hiring practices is still strongly in favor of hiring and elevating women who tow-the-line and adhere to the DSBN racist culture!

The fact that the best you can do in response to our son reporting the racist acts of students and a DSBN teacher is to treat him as if he is the problem rather than the defenseless victim of hatred. Clearly shows in your emails that obviously are not sent in good faith. As it is evident that our son is being punished for reporting these acts!

From this day forward anyone aside from his existing teachers (including his former Geography teacher) will now start addressing our son as Mr. ( Last Name) when wishing to speak with him.

DSBN employees will address and converse with our son as though you value his presence, since it is clear that you do not respect and value him or his rights. Our son is expected to show respect to all DSBN employees by using their last names; so similarly, your DSBN employees will treat our son with the same courtesy.