Update: CTV interviewed the student who went into the water with the victim. He said the victim was not wearing a life jacket and "something" pulled him under the water.
Query: Are there any killer fishes or other animals in the waters of Big Trout Lake?
Seems like it may not have been a killer fish after all.
I agree both parties are to blame but if the students could not swim why would they take them on a school trip if 15 of them failed? Wouldn't the teachers have known it would have been dangerous... Isnt that the reason they did the swim test in the first place? If there were not enough students who passed and not enough to go on a field trip the best solution to avoid this would be cancel the trip regardless of the students disappointments.
I really agree with you here.
The investigations (etc.) to come will be really interesting, if any of it is public. The Toronto Star article said: "TDSB policy requires that all students going on such trips pass a canoe-specific swim test at a third-party facility on a lake. If they don’t pass that test, they should have had another opportunity to pass, with another test and one-on-one swim coaching at the C.W. Jeffreys pool."
So does that mean every kid gets to pass? Or will they kick a kid off the trip if the one-on-one coaching doesn't pan out?
Minimum standards when it comes to water safety is a no-brainer. I think TDSB will need to re-evaluate its policies here. Unfortunately, the easy/safe/smart solution is to stop running these trips. Or any trip.
I'm surprised teachers still bother running field trips considering the risks associated with them.
It seems like the teacher(s) here made some pretty poor choices. Why on earth would you take responsibility for a student who is so obviously a personal/professional liability? Then you bring your dog and child? Very unprofessional. This teacher(s) has complete disregard for school board policy and perhaps even common sense...
If the teachers weren't supervising and knew the kids were swimming, I'd say they're pretty screwed.
If they were supervising and the victim chose to go for a swim without safety equipment those teachers presumably supplied and instructed him to wear at all times near the water, they might be less screwed.
But I'm no expert here.
As-per gold plated pension: if I understand it correctly, if they get fired for this, on retirement they are entitled to whatever they contributed before they got fired. Obviously, if they're fired TDSB would stop sending paycheques, and therefore making pension contributions. Assuming it's a relatively young teacher who brought their child, their pension would be a fraction of what they would have been entitled to had they not been fired. To my knowledge, your pension contributions can't even be touched if the victim's family successfully sues these teachers...