Ontario school board offers vague policy on ‘professionalism’ in response to biological male teacher sporting massive prosthetic breasts to school

The HDSB became the focus of intense international scrutiny last September when photographs surfaced online of a male teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School, identified as Kayla Lemieux, wearing a blond wig, short shorts, and a tight top stretched to breaking point over enormous prosthetic breasts, the likes of which can only be purchased from specialist fetish stores.

After months of inaction by the school board, which initially supported Lemieux’s right to wear the pornographic attire while teaching adolescents, on Jan. 3, Curtis Ennis, director of education, announced that the board would be revising its professionalism policy, the draft version of which was released on Feb 23.

“The purpose of this Policy is to consolidate and affirm existing expectations regarding staff professionalism, including dress and decorum, at board and school settings and at school-based activities, focusing on the importance of demonstrating, through personal presentation, respect for public education and each student’s right to learn in a safe, inclusive and accepting environment,” reads the policy.

The draft states the requirement in the Education Act that the HDSB “maintain policies that promote student achievement and well-being [and] promote a positive school climate.” Oakville Trafalgar has faced bomb threats, protests, and even threats of gun violence during the board’s months of dilly-dallying.

In November, the HDSB justified its support of Lemieux’s right to show up to teach wearing gigantic pornographic breasts by citing the Ontario Human Rights Code’s inclusion of gender identity and gender expression as protected characteristics. The Code is again mentioned in the draft policy, with the board recognising that their policy must reflect “the primacy of the Human Rights Code, which provides that every person has the right to equal treatment with respect to the provision of educational services, without discrimination on a ground protected under the Code.”

In the section titled “Guiding Principles,” the policy acknowledges the important role teachers play in the lives of young people and the wider community.

“The Supreme Court of Canada has stated that teachers occupy a unique position of trust, confidence and responsibility in society, and exert considerable influence over their students as a result of their position.

The Court has recognized that the conduct of a teacher bears directly upon the community's perception of the ability of a teacher to fulfil a position of trust and influence, and upon the community's confidence in the public school system as a whole.”

However, there are no specifics relating to a dress code for HDSB personnel.

In a recent interview with the New York Post, Lemieux said the breasts were real, claiming to be both “intersex” and suffering from a condition called “gigantomastia.” When the Post asked for proof, Lemieux reportedly claimed never to have received a formal diagnosis. The New York Post also reported, however, that Lemieux wore male clothes when not on the clock, and did not wear the fake breasts when going about daily life outside of working hours.

The group Students First Ontario is fundraising to take legal action against the board.