But the report also states that Wolff is expected to make a full recovery before the F1 season resumes later this month. That means Wolff will unlikely be needing the cast to move around the paddock comfortably.
But the 51-year-old may need to take it easy on smashing a table with his fists if things don't go their way for Mercedes in Zandvoort. Wolff was furious at the Hungarian Grand Prix when George Russell was knocked out of Q1, effectively ruining his weekend.
The Mercedes team boss banged his fists on a table to let out his rage, but he will have to contain himself if a similar situation arises in Zandvoort.
An anti-racism instructor was recorded mocking and laughing at a beloved Toronto principal who challenged her teachings — holding him up as an example of white supremacy “resistance,” according to a report.
Bilkszto’s July death came after diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, instructor Kike Ojo-Thompson proclaimed Canada was more racist than the United States, a statement the principal pushed back on.
Ojo-Thompson was hired by the Toronto District School Board in 2021 to provide four DEI training sessions to staff.
“You and your whiteness think that you can tell me what’s really going on with black people,” she told Bilkszto, according to a lawsuit filed by the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism against the school board.
But the attacks didn’t stop there.
Richard Bilkszto, 60, a former Toronto District School Board principal took his own life after filing a lawsuit against the district after he faced harassment for calling out an anti-racism instructor.TVO
In audio obtained by The Free Press, Ojo-Thompson brought it up again at the following session a week later.
“One of the ways that white supremacy is upheld, protected, reproduced, upkept, defended is through resistance and, like I said … I’m so lucky,” she said before laughing.
“Who would’ve thought my luck would show up so well last week that we got perfect evidence, a wonderful example of resistance that you all got to bear witness to, so we’re going to talk about it, because, I mean, it doesn’t get better than this,” she continued as others chimed in to back her up.
Kike Ojo-Thompson holds anti-racism trainings for organizations through the KOJO Institute.KOJO Institute
The next day, Bilkszto filed for sick leave, according to The Free Press.
The Workplace Safety and Insurance Board looked into the incident and found that Ojo-Thompson’s conduct “was abusive, egregious and vexatious, and rises to the level of workplace harassment and bullying.”
Yet Bilkszto said his reputation was nonetheless ruined. Following a six-week medical leave later that year, the district refused to reinstate his contract.
Bilkszto claimed the refusal to reinstate the contract was a result of either his fallen reputation or as retribution for having the WSIB investigate the incident.
The Toronto District School Board did not to renew Bilkszto’s contract after the anti-racism training incident.RSH DVP
“Unfortunately, the stress and effects of these incidents continued to plague Richard,” his attorney, Lisa Bildy, said in a statement at the time.
In a statement after his death, the KOJO institute disputed Bilkszto’s allegations and said the lawsuit paints “an inaccurate and incomplete picture” of what occurred during the training sessions.
The institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
Fayette County Public Schools has named a new leader for Winburn Middle School but would not answer questions about the previous principal’s suspension.
Winburn assistant principal BJ Martin will be interim principal for the “foreseeable future,” district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith confirmed Thursday.
Martin was named Administrator of the Year by the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, organization officials said in a Wednesday news release.
She received the award at KASA’s annual leadership institute in Louisville on July 26. The award is the highest honor KASA gives to active administrators, according to the news release.
“BJ has demonstrated extraordinary vision, competence and innovation throughout her tenure. As the embodiment of outstanding leadership, she has fostered an environment on inclusivity, inspiration and growth within her district and KASA, empowering all with whom she comes into contact to achieve their full potential and excel beyond expectations,” said KASA Executive Director, Dr. Rhonda Caldwell.
Some of Martin’s accomplishments include bringing elected officials into Winburn to see the “innovative learning taking place,” as well as highlighting students and teachers in many social media posts, Caldwell said. Martin also serves in the Coalition to Sustain the Education Profession’s Steering Committee.
“She contributes valuable insights to the development of teacher recruitment and retention strategies, “ Caldwell said, “driving positive change within the education profession.”
Martin’s LinkedIn page said she has 23 years of experience in education with 17 years leading at the school, district and state levels.
“I have extensive background in continuous school improvement work, particularly involving systems to support high quality teaching and learning. I am very passionate equity champion and after several years of leading from the district level, I took on a position in leadership at a high needs middle school during the pandemic,” Martin said on her LinkedIn page.
What’s going on with former principal?
In April, Fayette school officials placed principal Gregory Michael Hale on administrative leave without publicly saying why.
The spokesperson for the Kentucky state department that handles child protection said in April they were investigating a situation that resulted in Hale being placed on administrative leave.
No other information was given.
Davidson-Smith said Fayette County schools would not comment on a personnel matter.
Under the Kentucky Open Records Act, Fayette school officials in late July released to the Herald-Leader the letter they sent to Hale notifying him of the leave.
It said the Education Professional Standards Board that licenses educators had been notified of his leave but did not provide any details as to the cause.
On July 24, EPSB officials told the Herald-Leader that until it has taken final action on an educator case, the records pertaining to that case are exempt from disclosure.
Bengaluru: The Principal and owner of a private school in Gunjur has been arrested for allegedly raping a 10-year-old minor girl student on Thursday. He has been booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and arrested.
The victim, a 10-year-old girl, suffers from dyslexia and is studying in Class 2 in the private school. Police sources said she was raped by the 65-year-old school principal in an empty classroom on Thursday around 11:30 am.
According to the police, the girl who returned from school in the afternoon complained of pain in the abdomen to her mother, who found the girl bleeding from her private parts. The mother immediately rushed the girl to a private hospital, who confirmed sexual abuse and rape of the girl.
The police said the girl revealed to the mother that the principal took her to an empty classroom and abused her, after which he gave her a piece of cake asking her not to tell it to anyone. The mother lodged a complaint with the Varthur Police, following which the principal was arrested.
“We have recorded the statement of the victim in which she has clearly said she was abused by the principal. We also have medical records to back it up,” S. Girish, DCP (Whitefield) said.
Sources said that the police were also trying to secure the CCTV footage from the school for further evidence. Probe was also on as to whether the accused had abused any other girls in the school in its 13 years of existence. However, there had been no prior complaints against him till Thursday.
The workshop Bilkszto attended was led by Kike Ojo-Thompson, CEO of the KOJO Institute. Ojo-Thompson has called the death of Bilkszto a tragedy. Ojo-Thompson was unaware that earlier this year, Bilkszto had filed a lawsuit against the school board concerning the anti-racism workshop she led about white supremacy.
As someone who has worked in the fields of equity, education and anti-racism, I understand both the importance and the burden of naming “racism” and “white supremacy” within institutions. It is crucial to support those who risk their reputations and livelihoods to do this naming.
I see the current media storm as a precedent-setting moment on the risks associated with institutional equity work. I believe it will also test Canadians’ commitment to doing the work needed to address racism.
The minister’s response as well as those by right-wing news media have helped to fuel a narrative that anti-racism and equity work is to blame.
Anti-racism training denigrated by news media
The Daily Mail described the investigation into Bilkszto’s death as one that will look into “whether the obsession with woke policies may have contributed” to his death.
The National Post wrote: “It’s no coincidence that Bilkszto came out humiliated” since “the DEI industry is designed to sell guilt and shame and perpetuate a culture of victimhood.”
The Toronto Sun has suggested there is need to look at “the general issue of diversity, equity and inclusion training” concluding “reform may be sorely needed.”
Equity work disrupts ‘safe spaces’
Equity training aims to address practices that sustain institutional inequities. It begins with the acknowledgement of both historical and contemporary inequities and the premise that such work is needed to bring about equity.
Even at its mildest, equity work involves taking some people outside of their comfort zone. But equity work at its most meaningful involves getting people to recognize that their comfort zone has depended on other people’s silence and marginalization.
Equity training takes people outside of their comfort zones.(Jason Goodman/Unsplash)
Yet equity work is often conducted within the context of a market-based relationship, where client priorities dictate the boundaries of change and disruptiveness. These boundaries are frequently constructed around language choices — with terms like “diversity” and “inclusion” being permissible while, “racism” is deemed too polarizing.
When wading into discussions about equity and racism, the practice of establishing guidelines has been a central strategy for mitigating the associated risks. This practice has often been described as building a “safe space.” But long-time social justice educators, Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens, argue “that authentic learning about social justice often requires the very qualities of risk, difficulty and controversy that are defined as incompatible with safety.” This is especially the case when these conversations are taking place within the very institutions that are being asked to confront their own racist and inequitable practices.
Safety also gets conflated with comfort when people expect these conversations not to be upsetting or difficult, or expect not to be held accountable for their comments. This is an impossible standard to set for conversations that challenge institutional norms and social inequities.
McGill University political scientists Tari Ajadi and Debra Thompson describe this type of racism as “simultaneously individualistic and systemic.” Discussing racist systems requires reference to tangible individual instances of racism to illustrate how racism is reproduced.
Sometimes this is met with tears and sometimes this is met with defensiveness. For example, in a training I once conducted, a white woman cried when she realized that she had been using language to describe Black children which I explained reiterates racialized stereotypes that harm and dehumanize Black people.
Even when we try to make intentional language choices, such as “address the comment, not the speaker,” the illustration of racism will feel personal for those whose behaviour is implicated.
In her column for the Toronto Star, journalist Shree Paradkar, carefully delineated between the ideas of “upholding white supremacy” and “calling someone a white supremacist” in her review of Ojo-Thompson’s words in the session recordings. But this delineation fails to satisfy those avowedly anti-woke commentators for whom the language of racism and white supremacy is always considered unspeakable.
Since then, the perceived urgency of this equity work has been steadily waning, yet the resistance to this work has remained forceful.
Jagmeet Singh in September 2020.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Equity studies scholar Sheila Dawn Gill offered the term “unspeakability of racism” to describe the barriers to naming racism within Canadian spaces. She used the example of the silencing of the late Cree politician, Oscar Lathlin, for using the term “racist.” This silencing was again applied to current NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s use of “unparliamentary language.”
Broad acceptance of the reality of systemic racism is meaningless if it cannot be applied towards understanding how racism is enacted both individually and institutionally through comments, actions and specific circumstances. Institutional commitments to anti-racism are meaningless if they do not extend support and care to those doing this work.
Two decades ago, Canadian political scientist Malinda Smith described how the “race manners” of Canada continue to support the suppression of the naming of racism and obscure the way that race continues to matter throughout Canadian institutions.
The vilification of Ojo-Thompson for talking about white supremacy demonstrates the enduring hold of Canada’s race manners, even in the wake of our collective racial reckoning.
If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, you need to know you’re not alone. If your life or someone else’s is in danger, call 911 for emergency services. Or, call Talk Suicide Canada at 1-833-456-4566.
A former Boston high school principal is charged with misusing nearly $40,000 in school funds for personal use, including two luxurious all-inclusive vacation trips to Barbados.
Naia Wilson, who served as New Mission High School’s headmaster for 13 years, admitted to authorities she committed wire fraud totaling approximately $38,806 in the elaborate scheme, according to a DOJ press release on Tuesday.
The 60-year-old educator allegedly started requesting checks from the school’s external fiscal agent account to be issued under other individuals’ names from September 2006 until May 2019.
The New Mission School is an inclusive, portfolio-based pilot school program that serves grades 7-12, according to its website.
A pilot school budget like New Mission’s is typically overseen by an external fiscal agent that issues checks at an administrator’s request.
Naia Wilson admitted to authorities she committed wire fraud for her own personal gain, stealing nearly $40,000 from the school.LinkedIn
She would then “fraudulently endorse those checks to herself and then deposited them into her own bank account.”
Wilson repeated the scheme for trips to Barbados in 2016 and 2018, and even requested the fiscal agent issue checks for two of her friends who accompanied the principal on the vacation.
“Instead of working honestly on behalf of her students, Naia Wilson is accused of abusing her authority and using the school’s budget as her own personal slush fund to embezzle tens of thousands of dollars to fund two all-inclusive vacations to Barbados for herself and her friends,” said Christopher DiMenna, acting special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division.
Naia Wilson requested checks from New Mission High School’s bank account through an external fiscal agent from September 2006 until May 2019.New Mission High School
Wilson pleaded guilty and agreed to pay restitution. She will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
Wire fraud can land a person in prison for a maximum sentence of 20 years, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
“Protecting children is one of the very top priorities of this Office and threats come in all forms. Here, Ms. Wilson is accused of diverting school funds for her personal benefit,” said Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.
“We will not allow this type of gross abuse of authority and responsibility [to] fly under the radar. Individuals who take advantage of public trust to line their pockets will be investigated and held accountable.”
The DOJ added that the details contained in Wilson’s charging documents are allegations until she is proven guilty.
Bridget Coates, 49, used the funds “to purchase designer fashion from luxury brands and to help her qualify for a home mortgage loan,” among other purposes, prosecutors said.
Coates was also ordered to complete three years of supervised release following her jail term and “pay $175,000 in restitution to the Archdiocese of Washington.”
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