On Friday morning at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Angus, students, staff and family members were greeted by anti-mask and anti-lockdown protesters slinging threats.
In a letter sent home to families this afternoon, Our Lady of Grace principal Saundra Reynolds outlined what occurred at the school.
“We respect people’s right to protest and petition, but we cannot tolerate rude, disparaging, untruthful and threatening behaviour, especially when that behaviour impacts our students, staff and families,” said Reynolds. “Today, members of our school community (including small children) were subjected to inappropriate, angry and rude comments.”
A similar incident also happened last week at at least one public elementary school in Barrie.
On Friday, Reynolds wrote that as far as the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board is aware, the approximately six protesters involved in today's incident were not from the Our Lady of Grace school community.
“It has been a difficult year for everyone and we would all like nothing more than to go back to the days when masks weren’t required in order to ensure the health and safety of everyone in our schools. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. In fact, it has been quite the opposite in our school community,” said Reynolds.
Since students were sent back to class, Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Angus has seen two COVID outbreaks declared by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit – one is currently still active – as well as several individual cases.
“Some of these cases occurred at exactly the same time that I personally received a flurry of threatening and harassing emails and voice calls from people who are not from our community and, in fact, many not even be from our province,” said Reynolds.
Police did attend the school on Friday morning, however according to Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Katy Viccary, no charges were laid.
“We were maintaining a visible presence and to preserve the peace. We aim to educate before enforce,” said Viccary.
While Catholic board officials have said they have had some push back to their decision to enforce masking from students in junior kindergarten to Grade 12 after the Christmas break, this marks the first time they’ve had an organized protest crop up at one of their school locations.
“We have seen rumblings on social media about other protests, but this is the first time it’s taken hold,” said Pauline Stevenson, manager of communications with the Catholic board.
“When we came back after Christmas... there was an uptick in anti-mask concerns that were brought forward... but it was a very vocal minority," she added. "We respect people’s opinions, but we have to balance that with the best interest of every student and staff member. We want to keep schools open. We have to remain steadfast on this.”
With anti-mask and anti-lockdown protests cropping up across Simcoe County, including a protest in Barrie last weekend, Stevenson says parents shouldn’t be afraid to talk with their children about current events.
“We have to have open and honest conversations with our children. People have the right to their opinions and the right to protest, but it’s really important that everyone remains respectful and calm," she said. "Some of the things that were said was concerning, especially around young children.
“It’s a challenging time and people are getting tired. Our staff and our families have gone through a lot. Compassion and understanding would go a long way right now.”
