New sexual assault allegation reported at St. Michael’s
Parent told principal her son was ‘a victim,’ as boys school orders third-party investigation
Warning: This story contains graphic content.
A second alleged incident of sexual assault has been reported to St. Michael’s College School, which is at the centre of a police investigation into allegations of assault and sexual assault.
In an interview with the Star on Sunday night, principal Greg Reeves revealed that the mother of a student contacted him saying, “Her son was a victim as well.”
“It was concerning the locker room,” said Reeves, who spoke to the mother on Thursday. “There was a long, painful discussion … and I shared that with police.”
The locker room is the site where a young teenager was allegedly held down by other boys as he was sexually assaulted with a broomstick. A graphic video of the alleged incident was shared on social media.
“We are shaken by this,” said Reeves. “So is the whole staff and faculty.”
Reeves said he also received a video on Sunday morning. He did not look at it and immediately gave it to police, so he said he is not sure if it was a duplicate of an existing video or a new incident. His comments on Sunday were made as the school announced it is launching a “rigorous independent examination” of underlying attitudes and behaviours “inconsistent with its culture and values, and their impact across the entire school community.”
Dubbed the “SMCS Respect and Culture Review,” it will be led by an independent third-party committee.
The review will examine traditions, rituals and social practices of students in each grade. Information will be collected from students, parents, alumni, and current and former faculty and staff about the current school year and recent years.
The three-member committee, composed of individuals with no connection to the school, is now being selected and should be established by early December. It’s expected to deliver a preliminary report by the spring, and a final one in the summer. Recommendations will start to be implemented in the 2019-20 academic year.
“What we’re not seeing is the problems. We need this committee to come in and make visible the invisible,” said Reeves. “We take responsibility for keeping our students safe.”
Questions about safety surfaced last week after it became known that videos shot on campus were circulating on social media.
Last Monday, Reeves saw a video shot in the boys washroom of a young boy in underwear — he does not appear injured — allegedly placed in a large sink by other boys, who splash water on him and slap him. That prompted a school investigation that revealed another boy had also allegedly been placed into the sink, and splashed and slapped. Reeves called the police about the washroom incidents and began reaching out to parents whose children were involved to set up expulsion meetings for the following day.
That night, a student gave Reeves a video of a young teenager in a locker room, held down by boys and allegedly sexually assaulted with what appears to be a broomstick. Reeves did not immediately call police about that video that night or the following day.
On Tuesday, Reeves was busy in expulsion meetings, related to the washroom incidents. And he identified the victim of the alleged sexual assault video. Reeves spoke with the boy, and helped him tell his father about what had happened. The boy’s mother was out of town, so a meeting was set up with both parents for Wednesday.
“My whole focus was on the protection of this young man,” said Reeves about his actions on Tuesday.
It was only on Wednesday, around 11 a.m., that Reeves called police about the video and gave it to them. By that point, however, the media was beginning to contact police about it.
Police have said they learned about the video from the media. But Reeves said he believed he was the first one to hand it over to the police. When asked why he didn’t immediately notify police Monday night, after watching the locker room video, Reeves said his focus was on protecting the victim that night and the next day.
“What gives me some solace, because I know I’m receiving some critique about that, is the parents of the victim are very pleased with my timelines … because of the mother being away and the processing that needed to take place. They at least heard it from the school principal, as opposed to police.”
In total, eight boys have been expelled and one student suspended in relation to the washroom and locker room incidents. It’s unclear how many incidents Toronto police are currently investigating. On Friday, police released a statement saying they are investigating “a number of occurrences” of alleged assaultive and sexually assaultive behaviour.