An Open letter to Hon. Paul Calandra, Minister of Education, School Board Governance in Ontario: Long Overdue for a Complete Government Overhaul

by Debbie L. Kasman in

Dear Minister Calandra,

As you are aware, on February 27, 2025, your government won its third straight majority government under Premier Doug Ford, and you were named as Education Minister on March 19, 2025, replacing Education Minister Jill Dunlop who was the Education Minister for seven months.

After being sworn in as Education Minister, you announced that you would be “relentless in ensuring school boards stay focused on what matters most: equipping students with the tools they need to succeed,” in a video you released on April 23, 2025.

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What Those Working in Ontario's Education System Need To Understand

by Debbie L. Kasman in ,

Hello Ontario educators, I’m hoping this post will provide some much needed clarity around Richard Bilkszto’s tragic death as it relates to DEI training. First and foremost, let me say that I support DEI training, but it needs to be done by people who are “awake,” not by people who are “woke.” This next part is going to be hard for some of you to hear. Being “woke” is not the same thing as being “awake” or “enlightened.”

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An Open Letter to Premier Doug Ford On the Death of TDSB Principal Richard Bilkszto

by Debbie L. Kasman

Dear Premier Ford, While this is an open letter to you, it’s also a letter of condolence to Mr. Bilkszto’s family and friends. I’m writing you this open letter, sir, so Mr. Bilkszto’s family, his lawyer, the education system, and members of the public can read it because there’s a lot going on that they need to understand. I am deeply and profoundly saddened – and disturbed – by the death of Richard Bilkszto, a retired principal with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Truthfully, Mr. Ford, I am gutted.

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