The beginnings of a new school year and a new job are meant to mark a fresh start and an opportunity for change. For Maya Cole, they offered neither.
The 32-year-old, who identifies as transgender, began her job as an administrative worker at Pelmo Park Public School in the Jane and Highway 401 area in late August. But just two days into the school year, Cole experienced harassment from a parent at the school. The incident was so traumatizing that she has since left her position and is currently awaiting relocation to another school.
During the first day of the school year just a day before she left her job Cole claims she was subject to dirty looks and was often bypassed by parents who refused to cooperate with her. I just knew in my gut it was because of who I am, she says.
Then on September 9, Cole, who works in the front office, offered assistance to a parent and his daughter, when Cole says the parent ignored her and instead asked for assistance from her supervisor, whose desk is behind Coles. When the supervisor suggested the parent speak with Cole, he allegedly thrust his hand in front of her face and said he did not want to speak with that man, that faggot. The supervisor escorted the parent out of the office and then asked him to leave the school. Cole says that as he was being led out, the parent began yelling in the hallway that she was not a person.
I was afraid for my physical safety, Cole says.
The incident comes at a time when the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (ETFO) is calling for amendments to the Employment Standards Act and the Occupational Health And Safety Act to protect board employees from violence in the workplace, including psychological harassment.
Teachers and education support workers also have a right to protection from violence in the workplace, the ETFO website reads. They should not have to tolerate behaviour that threatens their safety and well-being.
The school is also facing pushback from parents over the provinces new sex-ed curriculum. According to Cole, a group of parents was threatening to pull their children from the school because of it. She says she was warned by principal Kari Hudson before the school year began that parents of Pelmo Park’s about 400 students may not be accepting of her gender identity.
Hudson herself did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The school’s secretary referred NOW to the Toronto District School Boards communications department.
TDSB communications officer Ryan Bird says he cannot get into specifics about the incident because it is a personnel issue. Nonetheless, he wrote in an email: Pelmo Park PS is a place that promotes responsibility, respect, civility and academic excellence in a safe learning environment. All students, parents and staff have the right to be safe, and feel safe, at school.
Bird also says Hudson is addressing the situation and has made it clear that it is not appropriate and not acceptable to use derogatory language and to be intimidating and loud in interactions with school staff.
After Cole tweeted about the incident, CUPE Ontario responded: Abuse and harassment have no place in our schools, workplaces or communities.
CUPE 4400 recording corresponding secretary Katie McGovern wrote in an email to NOW that the union has a strong policy on working with and supporting our trans members. She also noted that the situation is not unfamiliar, citing two CUPE staffers who themselves have transitioned.
Marie Coulter, Coles steward, could not comment on this particular incident.
Cole, who is on medical leave, says the experience has exacerbated her anxiety.
She has been with the TDSB for more than a decade, in various schools as an office staff member. In May, as part of a routine board staffing reallocation process, she was notified that she would be transferred to Pelmo Park. Just months later, Cole began her transition from male to female. She started her new role in August in the weeks leading up to the school year, and had conversations about her gender identity with both her union and her superiors at Pelmo as soon as she began. She was on staff for a total of 10 days before the incident.
Cole says her true gender identity was something she “buried very, very deeply for a very, very long time. I repressed it until I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt like I was dishonouring myself.” She was able to take advantage of her summer off from work to begin the transition. She has only just begun hormone replacement therapy.
While she says school staff and students were supportive of her transition, despite union inquiries the TDSB has yet to update her name on the their website for Pelmo Park, which still bears her male given name. Her TDSB email does as well.
Cole, who has faced the threat of violence on the streets as a transwoman, says, I shouldnt have to fear for my safety in the workplace, too.
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