Two bomb threats on Oakville high school while transgender teacher off work
Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Publishing date:Nov 17, 2022 • 1 day ago • 4 minute read
An image posted to social media by a user who identified the skydiver as the transgender teacher at an Oakville high school. PHOTO BY VOODOO /Twitter
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Two days and two bomb scares.
Students were back at Oakville Trafalgar High School on Thursday after Wednesday’s bomb scare, which was followed by another anonymous threat Thursday.
Notably missing for both days was the teacher the disturbing threat was about. Sources tell the Toronto Sun the school’s shop teacher, who identifies as Kayla Lemieux, dresses in women’s clothing and wears large, artificial breasts, was not in class.
In fact, Lemieux has not been seen inside the school this week. It’s believed the reason has nothing to do with the bomb threat. Nor is her absence the result of any action taken by the Halton District School Board (HDSB) stemming from complaints that Lemieux’ attire poses a safety risk to students in Grades 9 and 10.
Some students have told their parents Lemieux was fitted with a boot cast due to an unknown injury and for that reason a decision was made to bring in a temporary replacement teacher. This because her lack of mobility inside the classroom could result in potential safety concerns for the students and teacher.
The school board will not comment on this.
“As this is a personnel matter, we cannot provide that information,” HDSB spokesperson Heather Francey said.
While there was speculation among students and parents at a Tuesday meeting that Lemieux’s foot injury may have come following a skydiving incident, a person who was on that skydive witnessed no injury to the person believed to be Lemieux as a result of the jump.
However, that person did lose their blond wig during the jump, which can be seen on social media posts taken from the ground during the Nov. 1 jump at Dundas’s Skydive Swoop, as well as references to Lemieux in the airplane prior to the jump.
“Taking the Oakville transgender teacher on a skydive,” said a tweet. “This should be interesting. No way that wig stays on.”
Turns out this was prophetic.
“All it took was one bump from the camera man and there goes the wig folks,” the tweet said.
The tweet said the jump was completed safely but “the wig was never found.”
The person who led the jump said he was introduced to the customer as “Kayla.”
“I couldn’t tell much about him,” said the person who led the jump. “He definitely kept his true personality a mystery.”
But there is video online showing a person in the wig, wearing prosthetic breasts and talking on the airplane, appearing to be having fun. Several people who have interacted with Lemieux say that’s who it was on the plane and in pictures taken on the ground.
The Toronto Sun has emailed Lemieux asking for an interview and comment about the skydive and injury, and has also asked the HDSB to forward a picture from the jump to Lemieux to confirm the identity.
The pictures appear to show a smiling Lemieux wearing the same wig, glasses and shirt as Lemieux wore in school and also at a Burlington performance theatre.
A video gives people not directly involved with the controversy the first opportunity to hear the person believed to be Lemieux speak, a reminder that at the centre of this controversy, which has garnered global attention, is a human being.
There’s nothing wrong with people agreeing or disagreeing about the appropriateness of Lemieux’s attire inside a school classroom. But any threat of violence against Lemieux or the school is vile and unacceptable.
Halton Regional Police are still investigating the bomb threats, which were made via emails. The first said, “We placed several bombs all over your school” and “we will not stand idly by as this woke ideology destroys the entirely of western society.”
Const. Steve Elms told the Sun “the school was searched and deemed safe by our officers” and “we are investigating the origin of the threat but no arrests have been made at this time.”
Elms confirmed Thursday “another threat was received via email Thursday with similar tones from yesterday’s email. Our officers attended Oakville Trafalgar High School and conducted a search. The school has been deemed safe at this time and remains open. The specific individuals named in the threat have also been spoken to and are safe. The investigation is still ongoing.”
While the students are back in class, many unanswered questions about Lemieux remain. A teacher known as “Mr. K. Lemieux” was on the province’s most recent Sunshine List for earning more than $100,000 a year and previously taught at an Ancaster High School in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board.
It’s believed this is the first year Lemieux has taught in Halton. The board has said there is a “liability” potential against it should it invoke a dress code for teachers to address Lemieux’s case.
Now that there has been two days in a row of threats of violence that disrupted students and faculty, some parents are rightfully asking the board to consider removing the teacher from the school and deal with the issue in a safer setting. At some point, the good of more than 1.000 students outweighs accommodating one teacher.
While there would be liability issues there as well, the board has dug in its heels in supporting Lemieux and has yet to answer.
jwarmington@postmedia.com
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Students were back at Oakville Trafalgar High School Thursday after Wednesday's bomb scare, which was followed by another anonymous threat.
torontosun.com