Ex-Bell High School teachers accused of abuse in lawsuits

Plaintiffs seeking damages from board, the educators and some of their estates

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board plans to “vigorously” defend itself against several lawsuits that allege abuse by three teachers who taught at Bell High School over the last 50 years.

Four separate lawsuits are seeking millions of dollars in damages from the school board, the teachers who are alleged to have abused students and, in two cases in which the teachers have died, their estates.

The first lawsuit was filed March 16 against the estate of Donald Greenham and the school board.

Greenham, who died of a heart attack on March 4, had been facing 54 charges related to at least 14 former students for incidents alleged to have occurred between 1970 and 1982 while he was a teacher and guidance counsellor at Bayshore Public School and a basketball coach at Bell High School.

According to the statement of claim, the plaintiff, identified only as D.I.J., is seeking more than $2 million in damages.

It alleges that Greenham was the plaintiff’s teacher and guidance counsellor.

A second statement of claim was filed Nov. 7 against Robert E. Clarke, a former music teacher at Bell High School. The statement of claim says “on several occasions” Clarke exposed himself and fondled his genitalia “in the direct view” of the plaintiff.

The plaintiff, who attended Bell High School between 1975 and 1979, is seeking more than $4.8 million in damages. The statement of claim also names the plaintiff’s daughter and wife as additional plaintiffs in the case. They are seeking an additional $250,000 in damages.

The statement of claim alleges that the “school board created a system in which teachers were placed in a position of trust and authority over children and permitted to have close, regular and intimate contact with children. As a result, the school board is vicariously responsible, liable for the actions of Clarke.”

In two more lawsuits, plaintiffs allege that Timothy Stanutz, a well-liked music teacher who taught at Bell High School in the 1990s and early 2000s, “groomed, abused, assaulted and molested” students at Bell High School.

A few months before his planned retirement in 2016, Stanutz was charged with several counts of sexual assault and sexual exploitation amid allegations that he inappropriately touched at least two of his students while he was at work.

Stanutz died in a car crash in May 2017 before the criminal case was heard in court. The lawsuit names his estate and the school board as defendants.

None of the allegations in any of the lawsuits have been proven in court.

In two separate statements of defence, lawyers for the school board deny several of the allegations against Stanutz. They say Stanutz was seen as a “model professional educator” during his time at Bell High School.

“The school board states that throughout the tenure of Timothy Stanutz as a teacher employed by the school board, Mr. Stanutz was universally seen to be a model professional educator, respected and admired by students, parents, co-workers, and other educators,” says the statement of defence. “The school board has no reason to doubt his teaching abilities or conduct.”

Spokeswoman Sharlene Hunter said the board would be vigorously defending itself against the “multiple statements of claim” that have been filed with the courts in recent months.

“The district will be dealing with these matters in the course of the litigation process, and will be working with all parties in a manner consistent with the board’s view that abuse should never happen, especially not to a child and not at school, where children should be able to learn in a safe environment,” she said in an emailed statement.

Hunter also clarified that the school board carries general liability insurance to protect it in case it has to pay damages as a result of lawsuits.