August 28, 2023 Meeting Summary

Monday August 28th set the scene at Prairie Rose School Division board office in Carman MB, for yet another out of context word salad from none other than delegate Raelyn Fox. 

A second delegate who choose to attack educators with not only her vocal volume, but also with accusations of supplying smut to children, is also a former trustee from neighbouring Prairie Spirit School Division who was removed from her position following 2 suspensions - Christine Ronceray. 

Similar to June's well attended board meeting, the first speaker read samples of quotes taken from books. Memoirs she this time acknowledged were removed from Carman Collegiate's school book inventory. 

These books cover difficult subjects, but are also books that do not exist at the school currently. They were not in the school during the time her child attended the school for a tour.

It’s also important to acknowledge that these books contain real stories that happened to real people. Sometimes the things that happen in real life aren’t pretty.

These books  had educators from June's meeting (in favor of the books) saying they know which kids can and cannot take books that address certain subject matters home. This parent asked pointedly if that were true then why would her child take those books home?

This was interesting, given the original  complaint. 

What allegedly prompted this parent to speak in June was a tour of the school for her child, a prospective Grade 7 student, going into the middle years portion of the school. She complained that the books were “available to [her] 6th grader” while specifically referencing the Pride display. “No student can check a book out of the library without seeing all of these books spread out over the front counter.”

She was rightfully met with questions from the board members - did you talk to the teacher/principal first to have these issues met? There is a model to look to solve problems in school systems before you even reach the school boards. First, visit your child's teacher, then principal. The last option is the board office. Mediation is an option, it's a tiered process. The Squeaky Wheels don't want mediation.

To have her still wind up at the board office, despite not following the process, and receiving a clear response from PRSD in June, is a problem.  That combined with the fact that she’s trying to enforce sweeping decisions for all families is where our problems lay. 

Ultimately, on Monday, one of the board members asked for copies of the books she (and her child) had problems with.

When the second speaker was up, she questioned why the materials were so vulgar. As the Squeaky Wheels all do, she cherry picked passages and took them out of context - similar to the first speaker - less rapid, but just as rabid. She said essentially the reading materials aren't age appropriate and accused the board of having different definitions of age appropriate. 

She went further and stated that materials have zero educational value, and are instructional in nature and encourage children to take risks. Her main goal when speaking was to demonize the books, specifically “This Book Is Gay”, and the educators that use it as a resource.

Both delegates referenced the Criminal Code and demanded that the school board create a policy that adheres to the Criminal Code of Canada, citing sections 152,153 and 163.

Monday’s meeting was a tactic and the tactic is to continually wear everyone down, having to revisit the same topics. 

PRSD said they would not remove the books/ban them in June citing their policy number 18 Respect for Human Diversity and Admin Procedure 107 Respect for Human Diversity and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. They said they stood by those policies and we hope vehemently they still stand by what they said they did just this past June.

The response for this August 28 will be in September on the 11th. 

In the meantime, we encourage members of the public to either write letters to the board saying they do not agree with what happened in this meeting, that diverse books are important just as we fought in June. 

The letters should also request people from outside catchment areas not be allowed to present delegations at these meetings. It doesn't make sense for someone from Winnipeg to make their way to Winkler, or vice versa, but yet it's happening. This shows us that they want to stack odds in their favor, they're prepared and primed to fight dirty. 

The Squeaky Wheels are calculated. They’re using the same playbook - lie, exaggerate, and wear people down. 

However, it is interesting that they decided to garner support privately for this event, not publicly. It’s also interesting that only two showed up, one of whom is not in the school division’s catchement area. 

They are desperate. 

They know they’re outnumbered. They know that the majority doesn’t agree with their desire for censorship. They know that, indeed, love is louder - and when we show up, we show up in numbers and with force. 

We’ll keep an eye out and let you know what more you can do, if anything.

Stay tuned for a meeting link.