Former Catholic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School
(also called
Don Bosco
,
Don Bosco CSS
,
DBCSS
,
Don Bosco Toronto
, or simply
Bosco
), is a
Toronto Catholic District School Board
secondary school facility in the city of
Toronto
,
Ontario
, Canada. It is located in the former suburb of
Etobicoke
, north of the intersection of Islington Avenue and Dixon Road in the
Kingsview Village
neighbourhood.
The school opened in 1978 by the
Salesians of Don Bosco
religious orders as Central Etobicoke's first Catholic high school and moved into the former
Keiller Mackay Collegiate Institute
building, constructed and opened in 1971 by the
Etobicoke Board of Education
, in 1983. Don Bosco became fully publicly funded by the Metropolitan Separate School Board in 1987. Many years later, the board closed Don Bosco due to dwindling enrollment in 2017 and the building became the temporary home for the
Toronto Argonauts
practice facility, with a short-term lease of the facility from the TCDSB.
[1]
After its vacancy, the school building is used to house
Dante Alighieri Academy
starting in 2021?22 school year as their school is being reconstructed.
In the school's later years, Don Bosco became famous for then-Mayor
Rob Ford
's notorious football program.
History
[
edit
]
The school was named after
Saint John Bosco
since 1978. During the 2000s up to 2013, the school was known for having former Toronto mayor
Rob Ford
as its school coach. In 2014, Don Bosco adopted a
Self-Directed Learning
program, similar to that of
Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School
in Scarborough, becoming only the second such school in the GTA and third in Ontario to do so. The school subsequently disbanded this method and returned to the regular class system.
Sports
[
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]
In the school's inaugural year, it took the midget girl's relay title in a competition.
[2]
The head coach of the school's football program, from 2002 to 2013, was
Rob Ford
, (affectionately known as "The F-150" by the school), the
Mayor of Toronto
from 2010 until 2014. Ford had previously been a coach at
Newtonbrook Secondary School
, until a 2001 confrontation with a student.
[3]
The
Canadian Taxpayers Federation
lodged criticism against Ford for using city resources for the program. Two of Ford's summer football teams list two of Ford's city-paid special assistants as contacts, providing the numbers for their city-owned cellphones. Sources claimed Ford used a city car to ferry players to games and practices.
[4]
Ford skipped 5 1/2 hours of a City executive committee meeting to attend a "pre-season jamboree" with his team, not telling his council allies.
[5]
Ford talked to
Sun News Network
about the program, how many students "come from gangs" and "broken homes", and without football would have "no reason to go to school". Some Don Bosco school staff sent an anonymous group letter to senior Catholic school board officials, decrying Ford's comments about the school to Sun News, calling them "no reflection of the real" school. The board launched an investigation about the comments.
[6]
At a parent meeting, some attendees expressed concern that the school is too often called "Rob Ford's".
[7]
In May 2013, the
Toronto Star
saw video of Ford calling the students "just f---ing minorities"; the school board refused to comment, having not seen the video.
[8]
On May 22, the Toronto Catholic District School Board dismissed Ford from the coaching position.
[9]
One-time player Anthony Smith was murdered March 28, 2013. A photo of Smith with Ford was widely used as illustration during reportage of the alleged drug video. In June 2013, police conducted raids as part of Project Traveller; murder charges in this case are expected.
[10]
Later, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed the existence of the video on October 31, 2013.
[11]
See also
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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Schools
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- St. Mary's English High School, Maligaon
- Archbishop Shaw High School
- Cristo Rey Tampa High School
- Daughters of Mary Help of Christians Siu Ming Catholic Secondary School
- Don Bosco Academy, Pampanga
- Don Bosco College, Canlubang
- Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School
- Don Bosco Formation Center
- Don Bosco High & Technical School, Liluah
- Don Bosco High School (Imphal)
- Don Bosco High School, Lagawe
- Don Bosco High School, Tinsukia
- Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Dimapur
- Don Bosco Preparatory High School
- Don Bosco School Ernakulam
- Don Bosco School, Manila
- Don Bosco School, Park Circus
- Don Bosco Technical College
- Don Bosco Technical College?Cebu
- Don Bosco Technical High School (Boston)
- Don Bosco Technical Institute, Makati
- Don Bosco Technical Institute, Tarlac
- Don Bosco Technical Institute, Victorias
- Don Bosco Technical Institute
- Don Bosco Technical School, Shillong
- Immaculata-LaSalle High School
- Saint Francis Central Coast Catholic High School
- Salesian College (Chadstone)
- Salesian College (Rupertswood)
- Salesian College Celbridge
- Salesian College Preparatory
- Salesian College, Battersea
- Salesian College, Farnborough
- Salesian English School
- Salesian High School (Los Angeles)
- Salesian High School (New York)
- Salesian High School (South Korea)
- Salesian School, Chertsey
- Salesiano Valparaiso
- Salesianum School
- Savio Preparatory High School
- St John Bosco Arts College
- St John Bosco College, Battersea
- St Joseph's College, Ferntree Gully
- St. Anthony's Higher Secondary School, Shillong
- St. Mary's Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School
- St. Petersburg Catholic High School
- Tang King Po School
- The Salesian Academy of St John Bosco
- Thornleigh Salesian College
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