It’s back to the drawing board for the naming committee tasked with coming up with a new name for the Catholic high school in Collingwood. But this time the trustees won't be involved.
The naming committee did already choose a name: Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School, which was supported in a vote by students and parents. But school board trustees voted down the name in April.
Last night, during a Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board meeting, Collingwood's trustee was visibly angry and pounding his fists on a table as he claimed his family has been harassed over the vote to turn down Our Lady of the Bay.
“The trustees have been used as scapegoats,” said Peter Fracassi, the trustee elected for Clearview, Collingwood, Springwater and Wasaga Beach. “This resulted in the community being totally ignored. Instead of fixing the problem, the administration dragged their heels and left matters unresolved. They left us to be blamed when, in fact, it was a lack of leadership.”
During the meeting, trustees argued and defeated four motions that would have reopened the discussion to rename Jean Vanier Catholic High School. In the end, the only thing they agreed on was to have the naming committee choose a name in conjunction with Director of Education Brian Beal.
This time, the name chosen by the committee and Beal will be presented to trustees for information only, and they will not vote on the choice.
“This is another (instance) of giving up trustee responsibility,” said trustee Francis Smith, who oversees Catholic schools in Orillia, Ramara, Severn and Oro-Medonte. “We are elected here to do a job and to represent the people. We are giving away our authority. There will soon be no trustees left because we have nothing to do but rubber stamp. This is ridiculous.”
The motion to allow the naming committee and Beal to make a decision on the name was passed by a vote of 5-3, with trustees Maria Hardie (Barrie), Jeanny Salmon (Bradford West Gwillimbury, Innisfil) and Smith voting against.
Before passing the motion, Fracassi had more to say about the name: Our Lady of the Bay.
Fracassi condemned the voting process used to come up with the name. He claimed he received “hundreds” of calls and emails from parents and students regarding the issue, some saying they never got a PIN number to vote on the name.
“Students were influenced by teacher-run chat lines to only vote for Our Lady of the Bay, or they would be stuck with Jean Vanier,” said Fracassi. “Several students told me they felt not only cheated, but unattainably disappointed to be part of a school community that feels it is OK to manipulate the minds and votes of young, impressionable teenagers.”
“This is the silent majority. This is what I’m listening to,” he added.
As Fracassi has still not returned a request for comment, CollingwoodToday is unable to confirm the details of his claims.
During the meeting, Fracassi also alleged teachers at Jean Vanier attempted to sway the parent community, and that teachers called school trustees “profound and derogatory words in front of students on these chat lines.”
Fracassi added he filed a report with the Ontario Provincial Police after vehicles drove by his home this past Sunday with people yelling “Our Lady of the Bay” from their car windows. He also alleged a school staff member phoned his wife and used excessive profanity and threats against her.
“This was disrespectful to my whole family,” said Fracassi. “My family felt threatened. This is disgusting, what they did. They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Fracassi said he had done his own research and it showed the director of education did have the option of choosing the name unilaterally without trustee involvement.
“Mr. Director: This mishandling of this policy on your part has caused a lot of people a lot of pain. Own up to it, correct it, and name the school, now,” said Fracassi.
When Beal took the floor to respond, Fracassi tried to interject.
“Please, let me finish. I sat here very patiently and heard my reputation being maligned,” said Beal.
The director said he brought the name to the trustees for approval in the first place because every other time in the school board’s history, new school names have been brought to trustees for approval.
Beal explained that as a public trustee vote had already occurred in April, the trustees would then have to vote to defer responsibility back to the director before he would be able to make any kind of decision on the matter.
“I encourage you to do that tonight in light of the suffering and anxiety that’s going on with so many people,” said Beal.
Trustee Carol Corriveau-Truchon, representing the Muskoka area, said the focus should be on helping the community.
“This decision isn’t about us. It’s not about the trustees at this table. It’s not about the minority that have been harassing and behaving badly,” she said. “This decision is about the community of Jean Vanier Catholic High School. This community was devastated by the news of Jean Vanier’s behaviour.”
“I have not received a single email from anyone complaining about the process that was followed. The emails I’ve received have begged us to please give them the name the community requested,” she added.
Despite being the name of choice among students, teachers and parents, the proposal to change the name of Jean Vanier Catholic High School to Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High school was voted down by the trustees during their meeting at the end of April in a vote of 4-4.
Back in February, the SMCDSB made the decision to change the name of Collingwood’s Catholic high school after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced against the school’s namesake.
Two separate votes were held to determine the suggested name, polling Jean Vanier students, parents and teachers. Our Lady of the Bay Catholic High School received 54 per cent of the votes in the first vote and 50 per cent of the votes in the second, after the first result was called into question.
The other two names under consideration were St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic High School and St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic High School.
Fracassi put a motion forward in the middle of the meeting to just name the school St. Elizabeth Seton, and spoke over chair Joe Zerdin and other trustees when they tried to prevent it from going forward.
The vote went ahead on the matter, but was defeated 5-3, with Fracassi, Salmon and Smith voting for that name.
Beal, along with the naming committee, will now get to work coming up with a new name, which will be presented to the trustees at a later meeting.
