Assault on teacher an isolated event, principal says

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

An incident at John Rennie High School in Pointe Claire last week that left one teacher with injuries to his head was not due to security issues, but was rather an isolated event, the school’s principal, Nancy Sweer, said.

According to Sweer, a parent came to the school during lunch break Feb. 12 to speak with his child’s teacher, because he was “very upset” with his child’s progress in the class. The parent allegedly yelled at and then assaulted the teacher, leaving him with a broken nose. By the time the teacher’s co-workers came to help him, the parent had fled. He turned himself in to police over the weekend and will be in court on Feb. 29 to face charges of assault causing injury.

“(The teacher) was certainly shocked and there were definite injuries that needed to be attended to right away,” Sweer said, adding they called 911. She would not confirm the teacher’s identity, but said he was a veteran teacher who had been at John Rennie for about 25 years. Reports, however, have identified him as physical education teacher Sandor Finkelstein.

The parent, who Sweer said had come to the school that same morning asking to speak with the teacher, came back and entered the school at about 1 p.m. without signing in at the front desk for a visitor’s pass, as is required. Sweer said this was most likely because of the commotion during the transition between junior and senior lunch.

“So you really have about 1,500 kids in the halls,” she said. “It’s a very, very busy time of the day, and really the only time the doors are accessible.” She added the school sent a note home the next day reminding parents of the security procedures they must follow when visiting the school.

Although she said the school will be reviewing security, Sweer said no one could have predicted what happened last week.

“When you look at security issues, you say, how could we have gotten this parent to follow the security procedures all parents know they’re supposed to follow. But, at the end of the day, this was not so much a security issue, but it was a parent who made a choice to use assault as a strategy. It’s a poor example to set for any kid who, universally, we are trying to teach this is not a strategy,” she said, adding that John Rennie has a very good parent base and, overall, is a safe school. “This was a rare and isolated event.”