C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute

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C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute
Address
340 Sentinel Road
Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1T9, Canada
Information
School board Toronto District School Board
Religious affiliation None
Superintendent Karen Falconer
Area trustee Stephnie Payne
Principal Jim Spyropoulos
Vice principal Elizabeth Addo Noel
Monday Gala
School type High school
Grades 9-12
Language English
Team name Saints
Colours Blue
Enrollment 795 (2007)

C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute is a public secondary school in the Keele-Finch area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Contents

[edit] Overview

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Named after Charles William Jefferys, a Canadian artist whose work has contributed much to education in the areas of Canadian History and Art, the school is home to an award winning Visual Arts Program offered in state-of-the-art facilities by a teaching staff, many of whom are practicing artists. This attracts talented art students from the northern area of the city of Toronto. Additionally, it is home to the ESTeM Enriched Science, Technology and Mathematics Program - a project based, hands on, exploratory approach to the Sciences, Mathematics, and Computer Technology. Students at C. W. Jefferys consistently rank among the top winners in mathematics and science competitions, and each year, many of them are recipients of numerous bursaries and entrance scholarships to some of the province's top colleges and universities. The post-secondary acceptance rate is a noteworthy 75%. This helped by student success initiatives supporting "at risk" students through the Learning to 18 pilot project, "Stay Connected" and the credit recovery program offered at the school.

[edit] Incidents

[edit] 2007 murder of Jordan Manners

On May 23, 2007, the school was the site of a shooting. Jordan Manners, a grade 9 student who turned 15 years old the week prior, was shot and killed by two juveniles.

The shooting was high-profile in Ontario and received national media attention as the first fatal school shooting (primary and secondary grades) in Toronto's history and the first in Canada since the Dawson College Shooting in 2006.[1][2] The case raised questions about the safety of Toronto's inner-city schools, video surveillance of schools and national gun control laws.

C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute shooting
Location Flag of Canada Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date May 23, 2007
2:30 p.m. (UTC-4)
Attack type school shooting
Deaths 1

Manners was hit once in the chest while on the second floor of the school's swimming pool at around 2:30 p.m. Police received a call about a possible drowning, but arrived at the school to find the teenage boy in a corridor suffering from a single gunshot wound. The grade 9 student was taken to Sunnybrook Hospital with serious injuries, but doctors were unable to save him. C.W. Jefferys was locked down between 2:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. while the school staff, Toronto Police and the Emergency Task Force were searching for suspected shooter(s).

[edit] Consequences

The school offered "psychological first aid", a newer approach, for students and staff as opposed to the more conventional "grief counseling" which some experts now say may cause more harm than good. [3]

The school scheduled a candlelight vigil on May 24, 2007, the day after the tragedy to remember Manners. An overflow crowd of between 800 to 1,000 people attended his funeral.

Two 17-year-old Canadian citizens, whom the media can not identify under the provisions of Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested on May 27, 2007 and charged with first-degree murder. Prior to one of the arrests, police had taken the unusual step of obtaining a judicial order to publish one suspect's name and photograph as he was considered armed and dangerous. Media reported his identity and photo, then had to take the stories off their websites after he was arrested hours later.[4] The suspects have been described as friends of Manners.[1]

[edit] School board reaction

A lack of surveillance cameras was quickly called into question by an editorial in the national newspaper, The Globe and Mail.[5] The schools operated through the Toronto District School Board will review the security measures which were introduced in September 2006. The board also announced a panel to review school safety.[6]

[edit] Provincial, national and international reaction

Toronto Mayor David Miller said the situation shows the need for stricter gun control and called for an outright ban on handguns. He said handguns are too accessible, as people can steal them from collectors in Toronto or smuggle them into Canada from the United States. [7][8][9][10] Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty wrote an open letter to federal party leaders urging them to push through proposed criminal justice legislation and implement a "real ban" on handguns.[11] After meeting with provincial representatives, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day rejected such a ban.[12] On June 6, 2007, representatives from B'nai Brith joined leaders from the black community in calling for a public inquiry and the re-establishment of a youth commissioner, a defunct position once held by Ken Dryden. [13] The murder was also expected to affect proposed changes to Ontario's Safe Schools Act that were to address complaints that it and other discipline policies "unfairly discriminated against minorities -- mostly boys who happened to be black -- as well as disabled students, who were being turfed out of school because of their different behaviours."[14]

[edit] Allegations of sexual abuse

Recent allegations have surfaced of sexual abuse directed toward Muslim female students at C.W. Jefferys C.I. The school administration is being criticized for not taking any action on the incidents and allowing them to continue. A 14 year old girl was allegedly forced to perform oral sex on a student of the same age in a washroom, while another student watched the door. The allegations emerged during an inquiry into conditions at the school following the May shooting death of Grade 9 student Jordan Manners. The Toronto police said they were investigating an alleged assault at the school that was never reported to police. The police executed a search warrant at the school to look for information about the alleged assault.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Farewell to 'brightest star', By Curtis Rush, The Toronto Star, Published May 31, 2007
  2. ^ High School Goes Into Lockdown & Fear After Fatal Shooting, www.citynews.ca, Published May 23, 2007
  3. ^ Grief counselling: more harm than good?, By Patrick White, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2007, Retrieved on May 27, 2007.
  4. ^ Two teens, both 17, charged with murder in Toronto school shooting, By Peter Cameron, Canadian Press, www.canada.com, retrieved on May 27, 2007
  5. ^ To save schools from the thugs, Editorial, The Globe and Mail, May 25, 2007, Retrieved on May 27, 2007
  6. ^ Black and Jewish groups call for Manners inquiry, CTV's John Musselman with files from The Canadian Press, June 6, 2007
  7. ^ CBC.ca
  8. ^ TheStar.com
  9. ^ CityNews.ca
  10. ^ CTV.ca
  11. ^ Two teens, both 17, charged with murder in Toronto school shooting, By Peter Cameron, Canadian Press, www.canada.com, retrieved on May 27, 2007
  12. ^ Feds reject Ontario's call for handgun ban, By Canadian Press, CBC News website, Published June 1, 2007
  13. ^ Black and Jewish groups call for Manners inquiry, CTV's John Musselman with files from The Canadian Press, June 6, 2007
  14. ^ Reviewing the Safe Schools Act: Whose rights will be protected if this legislation is watered down? Opinion by Moira MacDonald, Toronto Sun, Published June 4, 2007.
  15. ^ TheStar.com | School assault ignored: Sources

[edit] External links

C. W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute at the Toronto District School Board website

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