An incident at Holy Rosary High School that left a student injured may be re-examined.
Back on November 17, 2016, a player on the Holy Rosary Raiders football team was injured in the locker room, prior to the start of practice. Due to the nature of what took place, it was reported to the Lloydminster RCMP, who then forwarded the findings of their investigation to the Crown.
The Crown came back with no charges against the students involved in the incident.
However, the actions taken by the Lloydminster Catholic School Division (LCSD) to deal with the incident did not leave those impacted satisfied. Dr. Kevin Govender, the Site Chief of Staff at the Lloydminster Hospital, previously spoke to 106.1 The Goat about those concerns.
A release issued by the LCSD in February described the incident as isolated, and also stated the school division investigation into the matter led to administrative actions “appropriate and consistent in cases of student related concerns.”
“We find it extremely unfortunate that concerns have been voiced in disagreement with the outcomes of both the school division and RCMP investigations,” read the release.
However, the Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board (SPTRB) may be taking a second look at the incident.
According to Lloydminster MLA Colleen Young, who represents the riding holding the Saskatchewan side of the Border City, Saskatchewan’s Education Minister Don Morgan has been informed of the Holy Rosary situation. Young said Morgan was informed of the matter over the last two weeks.
She also said she had been relaying the concerns of constituents to the minister, after receiving emails, letters, and visits to her local office from residents concerned about the incident.
“I’ve had some more details (about the incident) given to me,” said Young.
“That’s why I have encouraged people, that if they feel that what they’re saying, they really truly believe in that there needs to be some action taken, because they don’t believe it was handled appropriately, and there needs to be some changes, then the minister needs to be aware of those things.”
Young also indicated a new look at the situation would possibly focus on how the LCSD handled the matter.
“We can’t tell the RCMP how to do their investigation, it’s up to them to determine whether or not they lay charges,” said Young.
“I understand that, no one can be involved in that piece of it. But as far as how the school division itself, whether it’s the board, the administration, the principal, the coach, how the situation was handled, whether it was handled in the appropriate manner, or not, and even the fact that the program was continued when maybe it shouldn’t have been, I don’t know. I guess that will come out in a new look at it.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Young told 106.1 The Goat she had been informed by Morgan that he had received letters in regards to concerns over what had taken place at Holy Rosary. Young stated that Morgan had turned the information over to the Saskatchewan Professional Teacher’s Regulatory Board (SPTRB), which will decide on whether or not to investigate the incident and the decisions made by the LCSD administration and school board.
According to Trevor Smith, the registrar of the SPTRB, complaints received by the organization are presented first to the Professional Conduct Committee, which will determine if the SPTRB has jurisdiction in the matter and whether or not an investigation is warranted.
“They need to believe that there is a reasonable probability that if they were to charge this individual with misconduct or incompetence, that there is a reasonable likelihood that the discipline committee would find that to be true,” said Smith.
The committee would also determine if it was in the public interest for the process to continue.
“In most instances, when misconduct is reported to the SPTRB, it’s of quite a serious nature, and the professional conduct committee will usually decide it is in the public interest to pursue it,” said Smith.
The complaint would then be resolved between the two parties, or with a public hearing.
After due process in the hearing, the committee would decide if the behavior behind the complaint was valid, and the subsequent consequences.
“If they should decide there is something to the complaint, and their investigation demonstrates that it’s more likely than not that the complained about behavior occurred, that’s when it becomes public knowledge,” said Smith.
“The next thing after we receive a complaint that the public would ever be privy to is when the matter is resolved through a consent resolution agreement and gets posted to the website, or if the professional conduct committee decides to hear that, or to have the discipline committee hear that, then the notice of hearing would be published a month prior to the hearing.”
Smith would not comment on individual details of the Holy Rosary complaint.
The Ministry of Education indicated the LCSD had provided information about the incident earlier in 2017.
The LCSD said they were not available for comment on this story.