An Abbotsford student who had her speech censored by school officials has been left even more disappointed about the lack of follow-up from Robert Bateman Secondary School administration and what she said was a press release that wrongfully threw her teacher under the bus.
In her Art Activism class, 2024 grad Lexis De Meyer investigated the accessibility challenges faced by those with disabilities in Abbotsford. It was through that research that she would create an art piece that would be prominently displayed at the year-end show for the class.
After breaking her ankle playing rugby, De Meyer discovered the issues that those with disabilities encounter at her school. In a speech and a written portion included in an artist statement booklet to be distributed at the show, she shared what she encountered at the school and was critical of how difficult it was for those with disabilities at RBSS.
Both her speech and artist statement were approved in advance by teacher Claire Apostolopoulos. However, just one day before the show – which saw media and Mayor Ross Siemens in attendance – she was told that she would have to drastically change her speech. All references to the accessibility issues faced at RBSS were to be removed. Her teacher stated that she could be written up or receive demerits if the speech continued as planned.
"She said she was in a meeting with the administration and they told her that I couldn't say what I wanted to say," De Meyer said. "I had to take out the parts that even mentioned the school and if I didn't it could come down on her."
De Meyer said she weighed not following the order, but also did not want to cause any headaches for Apostolopoulos – who was also her teacher when she was in Kindergarten.
"My first instinct was I'll just say what I wrote and never mind what they wanted," she said. "But then when she said she could get in trouble – I have a really great relationship with Mrs. A. – I didn't want anything bad to happen to her or be responsible for something impacting her livelihood. I was tempted to say that the speech was edited but I got a little scared I guess."
After learning about what happened, De Meyer's mother contacted several media outlets and those early stories prompted the Abbotsford School District to put out a press release on the afternoon of June 28.
The press release contained quotes from Sean Nosek (Superintendent of Schools), Shirley Wilson (Chair of the Abbotsford Board of Education) and Lance McDonald (Principal of RBSS), with all three claiming that they will review what happened and McDonald apologizing and stating that he regrets the actions the school took.
However, the school has failed to reach out to De Meyer in the days that followed. RBSS administration did call De Meyer's mother shortly after the press release was posted, but did not leave a voicemail or send an e-mail for further information. The press release also stated that the decision was made by the teacher and school administration. De Meyer insists that Apostolopoulos had nothing to do with the editing. She believes it was McDonald and other administration that flexed their muscles and Apostolopoulos was threatened with discipline if those changes weren't made.
"I wasn't there in the meeting, but she had already approved my speech and my artist statement," De Meyer said. "There's no way she could be involved in censoring it because she had already approved it. Trying to implicate my teacher is crazy and not what I want at all. She has been encouraging me to start all of this and had my back, e-mailing all these people and getting in contact with the RBSS accessibility board. She was my number one supporter."
Renee De Meyer, Lexis' mother, is dissatisfied with how the school dealt with everything. She said an RBSS vice-principal did try to call the family, but they would rather deal with McDonald.
"Maybe if Lance was man enough to call I would talk to him," she said. "That is all the contact we have had from anyone from the school district. I don't mean to sound petty but they are still trying to cover it up," she said. "They are hoping we will go away and that will be the end of it. I'm assuming that [the press release] was for show and they have no intention of physically fixing anything. Most of all they destroyed Lexis. She is tough, we raised all our kids to be, but when you're singled out and treated so poorly and then they wouldn't even tell her why – it gets to you after awhile."
Lexis said she doesn't understand why the editing was necessary and that the administration created more attention by silencing her.
"I would have just presented it to the class and maybe people would have been shocked about the accessibility barriers at Bateman but it wouldn't have garnered the attention it's got now," she said. "But now I think there will be more attention on them and what they're doing."
She added that she hopes the school has learned some sort of lesson.
"They definitely shouldn't be censoring students and our opinions and try to hide problems at the school," she said. "They should be trying to address these problems and make Bateman a better place. And I hope that they let the Art Activism class actually be activists in their own building."
The News reached out to school officials following the press release, but they have not yet responded to any requests for more information.