WATCH: Etobicoke’s Don Bosco high school tries to move beyond the ‘Rob Ford era’
TORONTO – Students and teachers at Don Bosco High School are hoping to refocus the public eye on their school from football to academics.
The school, located on St. Andrews Boulevard in the Kingsview Village neighbourhood of Etobicoke, was founded in 1978 but has been known recently for its football program, which until May was coached by Mayor Rob Ford.
But now, with a new principal at the helm, the school is trying to refocus the attention of the community and its students to progressing its “rich history” of academics.
The school has instituted a new academic curriculum focused on course mastery rather than time limits, Principal Mike Rossetti said.
“Time is not the variable anymore. Kids get as long as they need to master the content,” Rossetti said. “So if they need six months to get their grade 11 credit, they can do that. If they need 10 months, they can get it.”
He hopes the curriculum will teach students self-discipline, self-regulation, self-efficacy; skills that, he said, will position them well for post-secondary studies.
Despite the school’s academic and athletic success, it’s received more attention lately for its famous former coach. And a list of controversies didn’t help; whether it was TTC busses being rerouted to transport the team or the mayor leaving a council meeting early to coach.
The mayor was dismissed as coach by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) after an investigation into comments he made during an interview on the Sun News Network suggesting many players “come from gangs” and “broken homes.”
“Well people usually have a negative image sometimes of our school but it’s not true because every school has a little group with them that might be little troublemakers,” Cindy Aramburo, Student council President said. “People think that’s all of us because it’s all we see but if they actually decide to come to this school, they might see all the events that we do.”
“I believe Bosco is not just one person, it’s the whole community that should be represented,” Sebastian Ki, a Grade 11 student at Don Bosco High School said. “And the mayor should not be our identity as a school but it should be us as the students and the teachers and the faculty to represent the school.”
Ki, an advanced placement student at the school, touted not only the school’s athletics but its academics, extra-curricular activities and charitable works.
In May 2012 students launched “Kick for Africa.” The charitable event collected over $1,300 and several suitcases full of socks and shoes for students at St. Gasper Elementary School in Tanzania.
But football still plays a large role in the school’s community – and like the new school curriculum, teaches kids necessary life skills, said new head coach John Royiwsky.
Royiswky said he wants the team to reach the Metro Bowl again but always emphasizes “academics first.” He says the student athletes are looking forward to the next season despite the loss of the mayor as coach.
– With files from Mark McAllister
Comments