Parent hands out teacher-bashing shirts to elementary students

Regardless of which side one stands on in a teacher-administration dispute, it’s almost universally recognized that if at all possible, the kids should be left out of it. But this week, one adult decided to use students at a public school in Toronto to send a message to the teachers inside, by giving them all t-shirts to wear that attacked the teachers’ personal behaviour during the ongoing job action affecting the Toronto District School Board.

At Kew Beach Junior Public School in Toronto’s affluent Beaches neighborhood on Wednesday, a woman was handing out anti-teacher t-shirts to the students as they entered the school, according to Bev Craig, who has children attending the school. Kew Beach serves students from junior kindergarten through grade six.

Craig told Yahoo Canada that a grade six student and his mother were handing out the shirts and “encouraging kids to wear them as they walked in the door.” Craig said her 8 year-old son and 10 year-old daughter were both given shirts; her daughter at first thought it was an anti-bullying shirt.

Craig took to Facebook to express her displeasure.

“This is a message to the mom at Kew Beach P.S. trying to express her opinion of the teachers' issues by handing out t-shirts to the students as they entered the school today. BAD JUDGEMENT CALL!!!!!” Craig wrote on Facebook.

“You are free to express your opinion BUT LEAVE MY KIDS OUT OF IT as I am trying to teach my kids how to be kind and respectful. The teachers a Kew are hugely appreciated and work tirelessly everyday to teach our kids...this tactic was mean and hurtful.”

Ryan Bird, communications officer for the Toronto District School Board, said the the school took action to comply with existing board regulations when it found out about the shirts.

"We’re aware that a parent was handing out t-shirts to students outside the school that focused on teachers," Bird told Yahoo Canada.

"Once inside, students were asked by the principal to take them off, given that their parents were not aware they were wearing t-shirts with political messages on them. In addition, the TDSB dress code says that t-shirts that demean an identifiable group are not permitted."

The messaging on the shirt is reminiscent of the words spoken by students at a recent student protest in Toronto.

A couple of weeks ago, a class of students at Hodgson Public School held a mass walkout protesting against not getting report cards this year (blamed on either the teachers’ refusal to input marks, or the schools’ inability to handle the task, depending who you ask). The students’ message was clear:

The shirts sparked a fair amount of outrage on the Beaches’ Facebook group, with many people saying it’s a shady tactic regardless of who one blames for the current job action.