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St. Thomas teacher to be removed after incident with student

WATCH ABOVE: Jonathan Forlini, a Sec 1 student at St. Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire tells Global News about an incident where a math teacher allegedly waved a Swiss Army knife – Mar 29, 2018

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This story has been updated to include new information.

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Montreal police were called to St-Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire around 1 p.m. Wednesday to investigate reports a teacher allegedly threatened students with a knife.

The school also confirmed to Global News that there was an incident between a math teacher and several students.

WATCH: Police were called to St Thomas High School Wednesday afternoon after reports the teacher allegedly waved a knife at students. Gloria Henriquez reports.

READ MORE: Durham teachers union launches awareness campaign amid violence in classrooms

Police say that they did investigate the matter, but can’t comment further because no complaint was filed.

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However, Global News has spoken to one student who was in the classroom when the alleged incident occurred and that student has confirmed that the teacher did have a knife.

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“He ended up playing with a knife and he was waving it around saying it was to scare us,” Jonathan Forlini said.

Principal David Abracen told Global News late Wednesday afternoon that police also spoke to the teacher.

READ MORE: How to deal with your child’s difficult teacher

The teacher was allegedly “very angry” with the students and asked them to stay back during lunch break.

The students were apparently frightened by the teacher’s behaviour.

READ MORE: More training, reporting and inspections part of Ontario plan to address classroom violence

Principal David Abracen called the incident “unfortunate,” but insists the teacher was not drunk, as had been rumoured on social media.

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He did say the teacher had a small pocket knife in his possession, but insisted he did not use it or threaten the students.

READ MORE: Georgetown music teacher charged with sexually assaulting former student

Measures are being taken to replace the teacher while the incident is investigated.

“Some students were asked to remain in a class after the bell at lunch due to the teacher’s perception of their behaviour,” reads a letter the school sent to reassure parents.

“Since that time, we have met with many of the students to discuss the teacher’s actions during the detention.”

The school says it does not believe that the students were ever in any danger.

“I won’t let him go back to the class with that teacher,” said Laura Lemesurier, Jonathan’s mother.

“They [the school] should have called me right away when it happened rather than me having to go there to find out what happened.”
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The Lester B. Pearson School Board (LBPSB) is looking into the incident, saying its investigation will likely take several weeks.

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