Peel District School Board Maintenance Services

Dear Peel Region School Board, Rashmi Swarup, Director of Education & Secretary to the Board, and Stephen Lewis Staff,This message is regarding an event that took place on Thursday June 20th, at the Stephen Lewis Prom Event. There was a student who was kicked out of this event. This was due to her vaping in the female bathroom of this event. I am not writing to prove her innocence. I am writing this because I feel this isolated incident was done out of personal grudge the principal (Rajwant Gill) had against this student and not to truly enforce the rules of the event. First of all the nature in which this student was reprimanded in, seemed very unprofessional and aggressive. The principal barged into the female bathroom to check on this student where other students were using the washroom, the student could have been searched upon leaving the bathroom. There are multiple students who know the principal does not like this student prior to this event. Secondly, there were many other students who also brought vapes but were not removed from the venue, there was no checking in the male bathroom for this behaviour even though it was taking place to a higher degree in that vicinity. Finally this same issue occurs to a much higher degree in the hallways and classrooms of Stephen Lewis Secondary School for the past several years and there is little to none enforcement done about this. There are also bigger issues such as many students smoking marijuana at the back of the school (before legalization and even more now) these issues do not get tackled in the appropriate way. There is no mental health aid for student resorting to this. Once in a while they will just call the police on a student. Also there have been prior events in Stephen Lewis where students who were not liked by staff getting suspensions and expulsions which seemed like situation advantages to dish out these enforcements (i.e a student being at the scene of something negative but not actually taking part in the event). Not only was this student's prom night ruined it also ruined her friends prom night as they felt this was very aggressive and the principal was taking advantage of this situation due to prior dislike of this student. I am very disappointed in the way this situation was handled.