Dear St. Antoine Daniel Teachers, ECEs & EAs:
Last school year, I experienced at St. Antoine Daniel Catholic School (“St. Antoine Daniel”) and its Parish verbal/online bullying from another teacher (“Teacher”) whose principal location is St. Antoine Daniel. I as a new teacher at St. Antoine Daniel was the target of that bullying because of my 2SLGBTQI+ inclusive teaching practices at St. Antoine Daniel (including my starting its first GSA (gender-sexuality alliance) and talking openly and positively about gender and sexual diversity with my students and in classroom/hallway displays as we do about race, place of origin, and more).
The image I have inserted at the bottom of this email is an example of this Teacher’s online bullying.
We teach students that bullying includes bystanders (who enable the bullying by their silence). We teach students not to be bystanders. I am suggesting to you that this Teacher’s bullying to me was so constant and pervasive, that is not possible for all of you to have not been aware of it, and that therefore some of you were in a position to tell me about it and chose instead to be bystanders.
I know the Teacher’s identity. I have provided her name and examples of her bullying to Superintendent Danfulani.
St. Antoine Daniel is not a safe place for me to return at this time, not only because of this Teacher, but because enough of you as teachers, who teach students not to be bystanders when they see bullying, have chosen to be bystanders to the bullying that I experienced at St. Antoine Daniel and its Parish. I am not safe at St. Antoine Daniel because of you. I am offering you the opportunity to contact me and provide me details of this Teacher’s efforts to bully me, after you reflect on why it is important for you to do so.
Sincerely,
Paolo De Buono (he/him/his), BA, MSc, JD, OCT
K-12 Teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board
In the pic above, Paolo De Buono (screenshot from one of his videos on Twitter)
