Nepean H.S students protesting recent expulsion
Posted Sep 14, 2011 02:53:47 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A group of about 30 students took their grievances with a recent expulsion to the streets Wednesday morning.
Standing across the street from the school, wearing matching t-shirts and carrying signs, the group chanted “Bring Mykal back.”
Mykal Baytaluk was expelled on Tuesday following a froshing incident in which he threw eggs at students in grade nine from a car. Two other grade 12 students were in the car at the time, but they each received 10 day suspensions.
The students, many of whom also participated in hazing rituals, say Baytaluk should not have been singled out.
“He’s never been in severe trouble like this,” says one protester. “To expel him someone like that and jeopardize their future is a little extreme.”
Jennifer McKenzie, the school’s trustee says she received numerous messages on her phone Wednesday morning about the protest. She says the vice-principal at the school is monitoring things but at this point letting the students make their voices heard.
Walter Piovesan of the Ottawa Carleton District School Board says students have misunderstood the punishment.
He tells 1310News that the student was not expelled but provided with and educational opportunity at a different site.
Piovesan says the punishment reflects the severity of the issue, and the importance for students to feel safe while at school. He adds that the case will be reviewed at the end of the semester, and Mykal could be allowed to return to Nepean High School with his friends and classmates in the new year.
