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Warning: article includes graphic description

TORONTO, Ontario, May 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A grade 7-8 Toronto teacher who was put on “home assignment” earlier this month for posting graphic sex brochures that were originally designed for gay bathhouses on his classroom walls has been reinstated in his classroom. 

“[A]s it’s a personnel matter, we cannot provide specific details; however we can confirm that the matter has been resolved and the teacher in question has resumed his duties at the school,” stated the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in a press release yesterday. 

Wade Vroom, who teaches part-time at Delta Senior Alternative School, was sent home with pay earlier this month after school officials were notified about the explicit brochures on the walls of his classroom. 

One brochure includes an image of the rear side a tattooed man with his pants down being clutched by another man who is kneeling in front of him. The brochure is entitled: “Use Your Head When Giving It: Blow Job Tips.” Another, titled “If You Like to F—,” conveyed sexual health tips for men who have sex with men.

Another brochure included ads for female condoms and the morning-after pill. 

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A spokesman for ACT said the pamphlets were intended primarily for distribution to homosexual bars and bathhouses across the city, not for children.

“We do use explicit language because we're targeting a specific community where this kind of language is warranted and needed,” ACT spokesman Andrew Brett said.

Although the bulletin board display was reportedly put up last October, the TDSB maintains that neither the principal of the school, Marc Mullan, nor any other school official knew about the posters, and that Vroom did not obtain permission to display them in the classroom, the Sun News Network reported. 

TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said at the time that Vroom had “good intentions” and used the brochures as a way to “speak more directly to youth on what is a sensitive topic.” Bird also made clear that placing Vroom on home assignment was not a disciplinary action.

One homosexual parent at the school blamed the backlash on “homophobia.” The gay news source Xtra also reports that at a parents' meeting on May 8 a “large majority” showed support for the teacher and the school's “nuanced” approach to sex education. 

In addition a Facebook page was set up to support him. An AVAAZ petition was signed by 73 people stating that “staff, students and parents need Wade Back in the Delta.” 

Chris Bolton, chairman of the TDSB board of trustees, told the National Post that the board “obviously felt that it was appropriate for him to return to the classroom, otherwise he wouldn’t be there.” 

But Gwen Landolt, national vice-president of REAL Women Canada, told LifeSiteNews.com that the TDSB is “totally out to lunch” when it stated that the “matter has been resolved.” 

“Parents have to be advised as to why this man, who committed this totally atrocious action of putting despicable posters up in the classroom has been put back into the classroom.” 

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“Has the board condoned what he did? Did they find it immoral? Has he been chastised for what he did? It’s totally inadequate for the board to say the matter has been resolved.” 

“Mr. Vroom should never be allowed to teach children again. He is a danger to them,” Landolt said.  


Contact information: 

Toronto District School Board
Donna Quan, Director of Education
5050 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N8
Phone: 416-395-8201
Email: director'[email protected]

Ontario College of Teachers
101 Bloor Street West,
Toronto ON, M5S 0A1
Phone: 416-961-8800
Toll Free (Ontario Only): 1-888-534-2222
Fax: 416-961-8822
Email: [email protected]