In 2021, the school banned the bringing of paper valentines onto school property on the grounds that they were \u201cnon-essential materials\u201d that could act as a vector for infectious disease. For this year, however, it was reasons of health and equity that inspired a similar order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Ontario elementary school has cancelled Valentine\u2019s Day on the grounds that the traditional celebration of love could \u201cnegatively impact our families and students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile we acknowledge the celebration of Valentine\u2019s Day, and are mindful of the popularity of that day, it is not celebrated by all students\/families in our community,\u201d reads a notice sent to parents and subsequently forwarded to local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The note adds, \u201cit is essential that all students feel welcomed and reflected at school, and that our celebrations do not negatively impact our families and students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The school in question is Jean Steckle Public School. Named for a prominent local nutritionist, it\u2019s an elementary school in Kitchener, Ont., comprising roughly 750 students. In previous years, Valentine\u2019s Day has been prominently featured on the Jean Steckle school calendar, and was typically observed with crafts, decorations and the exchange of cards. In 2015, the school even organized a Valentine\u2019s Day dance<\/a> for students in grades seven and eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2021, however, the school banned<\/a> the bringing of paper valentines onto school property on the grounds that they were \u201cnon-essential materials\u201d that could act as a vector for infectious disease. For this year, however, it was reasons of health and equity that inspired a similar order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After several Kitchener parents approached local media to complain, a spokesperson with the Waterloo Region District School Board explained to CTV<\/a> that Valentine\u2019s Day imposes a \u201cfinancial strain\u201d on families who feel forced to \u201cpurchase cards or sweets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The spokesperson added that the holiday\u2019s promotion of candy was \u201cinconsistent with the Healthy Schools approach.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Healthy Schools, as described on the Region of Waterloo\u2019s official website<\/a>, is a program to \u201cdecrease health inequities among the student population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is far from the first time that the Waterloo Region District School Board has found itself in the midst of a culture war that has earned national \u2014 and even international \u2014 attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last January, teacher Carolyn Burjoski was forcibly silenced at a board meeting<\/a> and handed a \u201cstay-at-home\u201d order after she raised concerns about illustrated storybooks in school libraries that dismissed the medical side-effects of gender transitioning \u2014 or inferred that a lack of sexual thoughts may be a sign of an asexual gender identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe Rick (the protagonist in one book) doesn\u2019t have sexual feelings yet because he is a child,\u201d said Burjoski shortly before her microphone was cut off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same week that Jean Steckle cancelled Valentine\u2019s Day, the board published a lengthy open letter inferring that a delegation of concerned parents to one of their recent meetings had been motivated by hate and transphobic bigotry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Parents had objected to a student census that explicitly asked younger students about their ethnic background and sexual orientation, as well as a school policy of immediately accommodating a child\u2019s wish for gender transition without informing guardians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHate, racism and xenophobia are not \u2018opinions\u2019 that should be gathered through consultation,\u201d read the letter<\/a>. \u201cThe hallmark of a democratic public education system should be that we serve all students well, especially those with the least power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last summer, the board censured one of its only Black trustees, Mike Ramsay, after he objected to lesson plans which encouraged Caucasian students to acknowledge their \u201cwhite privilege.\u201d \u201cMost trustees see me as the wrong kind of Black man,\u201d Ramsay wrote in an op-ed for the Waterloo Region Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Valentine\u2019s Day \u2014 just like St. Patrick\u2019s Day and F\u00eate de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste \u2014 has its origins as a Catholic feast day, with Feb. 14 chosen to celebrate one of several Christian martyrs named Valentine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although there is no evidence that the Valentines had any strong feelings about love, the holiday is believed to have taken on that connotation in order to act as a toned-down substitute for the pagan holiday of Lupercalia, which featured rampant public nudity and even community orgies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Valentine\u2019s Day has moved further and further away from its Christian origins, it has gained adoption in any number of non-Christian countries such as Bangladesh and Japan. Several notable exceptions can be found in the Islamic world, where observations of the holiday are banned<\/a> for their alleged promotion of immorality and indecency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 2021, the school banned the bringing of paper valentines onto school property on the grounds that they were \u201cnon-essential materials\u201d that could act as a vector for infectious disease. For this year, however, it was reasons of health and … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/VALENTINES-DAY.webp\")
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