A Canadian school board has demanded a new ‘professional’ dress code for teachers following months of backlash over a trans teacher with ‘clownish’ giant prosthetic breasts.
Trustees on the Halton District School Board unanimously passed a motion on January
The district’s Director of Education Curtis Ennis will have until March 1 to create the policy.
‘The HDSB’s commitment to human rights remains rooted in our core values and commitment to each and every student and staff who identifies as a member of an underserved and underrepresented group, and our approach is informed by opinions from leading employment law firms with human rights and equity advisors,’ Ennis said.
Photos of the Oakville Trafalgar High School teacher, identified as Kayla Lemieux by local media, went viral in September and swiftly garnered global attention.
The snaps, taken by students, show the blond educator wearing tight clothing that emphasizes her gigantic Z-size prosthetic breasts while teaching in the classroom. Huge nipples can also be seen protruding from her fake, balloon-like bust.
The eye-popping photos quickly sparked protests, angry complaints and even several bomb threats at the Oakville school, located about 20 miles outside Toronto.
The school board has continued to stand behind the trans teacher, who began identifying as female last year, according to the Toronto Sun.
‘This teacher (who teaches shop) is an extremely effective teacher,’ Halton District School Board chair Margo Shuttleworth said previously.
Students and parents have raised concerns about Lemieux’s attire, saying it ‘mocks women and the education experience’.
Until now the board has supported her decision to dress that way, and in December it emerged students had been threatened with suspension if they took photos of her.
The report is expected to be completed by next month, but until then Lemieux will be free to continue to dress as she’s been seen in several viral videos and pictures from inside the classroom, hallways, skydiving or walking with a cast boot on her foot after suffering an unknown injury.
While the instructor was seen teaching in several other HDSB schools in December, there was no sighting of the educator last week, when students returned after the Christmas holidays.
Calling for ‘appropriate’ and ‘professional’ wardrobe and ‘decorum’ is a departure from November when Sari Taha, the school board’s superintendent of human resources, warned ‘implementation of a formal staff dress code or grooming standards would likely expose the board to considerable liability.’
He said even if ‘a dress code is implemented for non-discriminatory reasons, it would likely be found to be discriminatory where it adversely affects an employee or group or employees on the basis of their code-protected grounds.’
