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The Waterloo Region District School Board has met just days before school starts.
This is after the PC government came down hard against the idea of the updated curriculum being taught in the classroom.
WRDSB trustees have passed two motions to show their support for the 2015 sex ed curriculum.
The first motion is to send a formal request to the Minister of Education to continue to adhere to the human rights code and follow their strategic plan by continuing to teach the 2015 health and physical education curriculum.
In the second motion, board members agreed to send a letter to Premier Ford, denouncing "the teacher reporting line," which is also known as the "snitch line."
All eight delegates who spoke to the public school board are against the new curriculum, which is set to be taught in classrooms starting this September.
Thirteen year old eighth-grader Sofia Marcuzzi-Lindo says she identifies as queer.
"LGBTQ youth deserve a curriculum that represents them and shows them what they need in the same way that other kids are getting that. As well, straight kids need to understand and interact with queer youth in a healthy way," Marcuzzi-Lindo tells the trustees.
Husayn Jamal is a former public school student and trustee.
He says the inclusion of gender identity in the 2015 curriculum was not meant just to help LGBTQ students, "it is just as critical for cis-gender and heterosexual students, so that they don't see their peers as others. This kind of social outcasting can be unintentional. But when it happens, it has the potential to harm the developmental self-image of young students."
Greg Weiler, the local president of the Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario, asks the public school board to take a stronger position on the revisions.
"You know, for some issues, there is no middle ground and this is one of them. So you are going to have to take action in one way or another. Tell the teachers of this board what your position is on that. Do you support these things? Or are you changing your policies?"
Greg Weiler is the president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario in Waterloo Region. He tells @wrdsb, “if this is not handled clearly and consistently, it will become divisive.” He says he heard “zero complaints” regarding the 2015 sex ed curriculum. pic.twitter.com/KU21mO29Jk
— Aastha Shetty (@aastha_shetty) August 29, 2018
"We've had zero calls in the three years this curriculum has been in place. Zero calls. Zero issues."
Trustee Mike Ramsay voices his concerns after listening to the delegations or speeches from community members.
"The thing is we need to be honest to our delegations and tell them... look, you know what, the government has the right to do this. Where we should concentrate out efforts is to push them to really listen. Not what Mrs. Wynne did -- pretend to listen."
Trustee John Hendry spoke strongly against the revisions to the sex ed curriculum.
Trustee John Hendry from the public school board says he was in disbelief when he heard news of the snitch line. #WaterlooRegion #SexEd pic.twitter.com/xPJBJOU1YU
— Aastha Shetty (@aastha_shetty) August 29, 2018
"I believe that this is a direct threat to our teaching profession. It's just disgusting."
