Vice-principal lobs his shoe at student
Unruly children on bus trip prompted ‘lapse in judgment,’ Catholic board says
ACatholic elementary school vice-principal is on paid leave while board officials investigate an incident in which he threw his shoe at students during a bus trip to Montreal, leaving one with angry red bruising on his forehead.
Ian Goulbourne, 14, a Grade 8 student at Scarborough’s Holy Spirit Catholic School, was taken to Montreal Children’s Hospital Wednesday night, where his parents say he was treated and released after a few hours. He was to return by bus, with the other students, Friday evening.
Citing a “lapse in judgment,” viceprincipal Stephen Patel “expressed his deep regret’’ at the incident, Toronto Catholic District School Board spokesman John Yan told the Star.
The board is “taking this matter very seriously,” he added.
Patel is on the Ontario government’s “sunshine list” and makes $109,033 a year.
Catholic school board trustee John Del Grande said he is “relieved the student is OK.
“It is critically important that all of our teachers, supervisors and admin team exercise sound and rationale judgment at all times. It unfortunately does not appear to be the case here.”
In an email, Patel told the Star he was passing a reporter’s request for comment to the board’s communication department.
Details about what happened on the bus, before the shoe was thrown, differ slightly depending on the source of the account.
Yan said students had been acting up. “During a period of unruly behaviour, Mr. Patel, to get their attention, did indeed throw a shoe. The shoe accidentally struck the student in the face. As a safety precaution he was taken to a Montreal hospital where he was treated and released.’’ Montreal police were called. They have “concluded their investigation and confirmed it was accidental. No charges will be laid,’’ Yan said.
Parents Mylene and Ian Goulbourne said Montreal police told them Friday the investigation is still open. A police spokesperson told the Star they were unable to comment on the case. Based on conversations with their son and his friends, the parents say Ian was asleep when the shoe was thrown, while students, teachers and Patel were on the bus. Other students heard Patel “warn the children he would take his shoe off and throw it’’ if they did not quiet down, said Goulbourne. Apparently some students were singing and had been told to stop but didn’t. Goulbourne said his son was “really shaken . . . he was scared’’ when he spoke to his parents from the hospital. Mylene Goulbourne told her son, the youngest of six children, to have someone take a photo of his injury at the hospital and send it to her. Ever since, she said, she’s been trying to hold back her anger. “We paid for this trip for him to have a good time . . . not spend five hours in a hospital,” she said. She worries about the stress this has caused her husband, a sales manager who had a heart attack a few years ago and is currently on crutches, recovering from an operation. The Goulbournes said they insisted Patel not ride back on the bus with the students because it would be too upsetting for their son. They don’t want Patel back at the school and are not ruling out legal action. Ian Goulbourne said the consequences would have been dire had it been a student throwing a shoe at a teacher or another student. “And in the workplace there’s zero tolerance against violence against employees. Here we have someone we’re supposed to trust with kids to have a safe environment.’’
Yan said he did not know if Patel expressed his “deep regret’’ to the Goulbournes. The parents said they have not heard from Patel.