School gets failing grade on empathy and communication

This week, The Spec’s Steve Buist told the story of a disturbing incident at a local school and its fallout.

École élémentaire catholique Notre-Dame is Hamilton’s only French Catholic elementary school. In late November, there was a washroom incident between two kindergarten boys. It involved private parts and age-inappropriate behaviour that in older children would be called sexual.

There are differing accounts of the incident, but that’s not the point. The point is what happened after. When contacted by The Spectator, the mother of one of the boys expressed alarm about the way the school handled the incident. We investigated and sought comment from the school. Multiple requests were ignored. We sought comment from a school trustee, who was shocked by what had happened. Before he could formulate a response, the overseeing school board, MonAvenir French Catholic school board, intervened and said there would be no comment other than “The board cannot comment on matters involving minors it its care.”

Why wasn’t the mother contacted until hours after the incident? Why couldn’t the school board at least acknowledge it was investigating?

The board eventually had more to say in a two-page letter to parents. A letter to parents after an explosive story hits the media smacks of self-serving damage control. It shouldn’t have been left for some parents of students at the school to learn about this incident from the media. Parents are right to be suspicious of what else they don’t know.

The mother never got a followup or an apology. She withdrew her child. Other parents expressed concern about the school’s reaction. They’re right. The school board failed at communication and supporting the mother. Parents deserve better.