Adam Prudhomme
Editor
The father of a student suspended for her role in a hold and secure issued at J.J. O’Neill Catholic School on March 27 says he’s seeking legal action against the school board.
Tyler Hunt says his 10-year-old daughter was issued a five day suspension for stating she saw a stranger carrying a gun at the fairgrounds behind the school playground during recess. Hunt says based on what his daughter said, some fellow students ran to tell the teacher of a man carrying a gun. The school reported that to the L&A OPP and a hold and secure was immediately put in place at J.J., The Prince Charles School and Napanee District Secondary School. After an extensive search of the area the police declared there was no threat to the community and no charges were filed.
“There were two young boys that are classmates of hers that had opened a hole in the fence in the back field and they actually left school property,” said Hunt. “They were in the fairgrounds. The teachers didn’t see them, the teachers obviously weren’t supervising them very well. The boys were out in the fairgrounds and there was a man around that fence line and he said something to them and pointed what my daughter thought was a gun at them and yelled at them. Her and her friends that were with her, the other little girls, started yelling at the boys to come back. The boys ran back to the school, a couple of the girls ran away crying because they thought there was a gun and thought that man might be trying to hurt the boys. They ran and told the teacher and the teacher called the police. My daughter was the only one to say ‘oh my God, I think he’s got a gun.’ She’s still adamant she believes that’s what she saw.”
A police officer surveys the Napanee Fairgrounds following a report of a male with a firearm spotted in the area on March 27. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
According to Hunt, though the police didn’t find anyone with a firearm, they didn’t definitively say there wasn’t a man with one in the area, either.
“I did talk to the OPP officer that was in charge of the investigation,” said Hunt. “She’s assured me that police didn’t tell the school that they determined that my daughter was lying or there mischievous activity going on. She told me that their words to the principal was the investigation was complete and it was inconclusive (whether or not there) was a gun. After being told that, the principal decided to suspend my daughter for five days because she’s the one that said that she saw a gun. I’ve asked her so many times now. She still believes that what she saw in the guy’s hand.”
Hunt says his daughter was trying to do the right thing and her getting in trouble sends the wrong message.
“Whether she was right or wrong at this point kind of doesn’t really matter,” said Hunt. “Now we have all these students thinking that they’re going to get in trouble if they report suspicious people around the school.”
Hunt says he feels the other students may have said they didn’t think they saw a gun for fear of getting in trouble.
“The day after the incident I picked the kids up from school and from there one of the girls came up to my daughter and said ‘I thought you got suspended.’ All of the kids were already afraid before anyone was suspended, all the kids were afraid of being suspended,” said Hunt. “What happened was they all changed their story after they got afraid of being suspended.”
He’s now exploring legal options to have this removed from his daughter’s record.
When asked for comment, the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board declined comment. When asked for details about the call the following day, the OPP said the investigation was continuing and they would issue a release when they had more details they can provide.