Alleged toy gun at centre of Kapuskasing high school labour dispute

A student who recently brought a toy gun to Kapuskasing District High School isn't a threat to staff and fellow pupils.

That's according to the Ontario Provincial Police, the Ministry of Labour and officials with the District School Board Ontario North East.

But Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation bargaining unit president Derek Beland says there isn't enough evidence to support that.

Following the incident last month, a teacher at the school has filed a refusal to work complaint with the MOL. Beland says the teacher is concerned for their own safety, and that of other students.

Different views

At the end of the school day on Jan. 23, a teacher at the high school in Kapuskasing saw a student wielding what was thought to be an object shaped like a firearm.

The teacher notified the principal, who then reviewed hallway video footage of the incident.

According to the school board's director of education, Lesleigh Dye, the principal of the school, Alex Crump, determined there was no threat to public safety.

Dye says the student was brought to the principal's office the next morning. That's when the student handed over a toy gun.

"I can guarantee to you, there was not a threat made to anyone, to any students, any staff," Dye says.

She adds the student was removed from the school for close to two weeks as punishment, and has been subject to behavioural conditions since the incident.

Police were called to the school a few days later, after at least one teacher expressed concern to their union.

"The principal did not determine — and we support him on this — that there was a credible threat. School safety for our students and our staff is paramount," Dye says.

Still concerned

According to Beland, at least two teachers at KDHS believe there may be more to the story.

When the video footage from the hallway was first reviewed by school staff — including a health and safety representative — Beland says a chrome metallic object was observed in the hands of the student in question.

Both Dye and Beland say the student was waving the gun in the face of a younger pupil.

Beland claims the gesture appeared "threatening", while Dye says it looked like a case of two friends "playing around with one another in a hallway."

The chrome metallic object was never accounted for.

"That's a loose end that has not been tied up," Beland says.

However, Dye feels the toy gun doesn't need to be produced.

"The video from the initial incident, and again the police confirmed this, does not show whether that was a gun or a replica of a gun," she says.

'Catastrophic failure'

Beland says he feels the school's principal erred in not immediately calling police, whether he thought it was a toy gun or not.

"As far as the school board is concerned, and the fact that they're satisfied, they're basically in a mode where they're covering the principal's ass," Beland says.

"It was a catastrophic failure, both in the immediacy and the urgency of that day, and then thereafter. They're just not moving to a point where they're assuring us that if something like this happens again, they'll deal with it properly," he adds.

But Dye says she's standing by the MOL and OPP investigations.

"Police did not get involved on the very first day of the situation but were involved ... and they agreed there was not a threat," she says.

The MOL says an investigator travelled to Kapuskasing on Feb. 16 — more than three weeks after the initial incident at the high school.

"Our investigation is complete and no orders were issued," the MOL states in an email to CBC news.

Beland says the teachers' union plans to appeal the ministry's conclusions in the coming days and demand that it conducts a full workplace risk assessment.

Lockdown practice remains top of mind

In a move unrelated to the toy gun incident, Dye explains the board is taking action after the tragic high school shooting in Florida last week.

"I have asked all our principals and vice-principals to review lockdown procedures at the March staff meetings, and in our district, schools practice lockdowns twice a year," Dye says.

"It's not to cause alarm, but to be prepared when a situation may occur."