A Toronto private school was sued over a student’s alleged sexual assault. The school’s name was kept secret until now.
An 11-year-old student was sexually assaulted by another student at Toronto’s York Academy Community School in 2018, when the alleged perpetrator was only 10 years old. The student’s parents accused the school of failing to protect their child from a child abuser. The school responded by firing the teacher, the principal and another teacher, and launching a “full investigation” into the alleged assault.
An investigation into the allegations was launched but was later halted. Then the school claimed not to be aware of any other alleged incidents. Students from the school now allege that the school also fired the teacher who helped report the crime.
In the fall of 2019, an anonymous tip to the school’s investigation team led to the revelation that the school had been sued by parents who claimed the school failed to protect the teenager’s rights. The school issued a vague statement about the lawsuit, with an apology and admission that they were sued. The school denied that the lawsuit affected the investigation.
But that lawsuit wasn’t about an alleged violent stranger who sexually attacked one child, but about a teacher who failed to report the abuse because she believed the student is innocent, according to the parents suing the school. The parents accused the school of concealing their student’s story and violating privacy.
This is a student who was only 11 years old when he was sexually assaulted on March 19, 2018. He has been struggling to overcome the physical and mental scars of his assault ever since.
When reached for comment in early April 2020, the anonymous tipster, who was not named, told us in an email that it was “not possible to confirm or refute the identity of the person.” We asked for more details on the lawsuit, but we did not get a reply.
The anonymous tip was first reported by the Toronto Star on May 5, 2019, the same day that the school
