Trouble brewing at GREAVES ADVENTIST ACADEMY

Dear Editor

GREAVES ADVENTIST ACADEMY is the only Adventist school in Montreal. The school has gone from being good to bad under the   new principal, since she took over the school in September 2016.
On her arrival here the first thing she did was to change the cafeteria from vegetarian to vegan because she is vegan she has imposed her lifestyle on the children, most of the children at the school are not vegetarian but it was tolerated because they could have cheese and milk products but the sudden change to vegan without prior notice is unacceptable and now the cafeteria is closed  because the children are not buying the food and the principal has not offered a replacement or alternative.
The school has no school board or a Parent Teachers Committee. The former school board was closed down by the previous administration of the Quebec Conference Of Seventh Day Adventist because they wanted to have full control of the school, they appointed a pastor that has no knowledge of how the school should be operated, he is suppose to be guiding the principal, it obviously a case of the blind leading the blind, and they’re heading towards a precipice.
Many are saying that this new principal is rude and disrespectful in her correspondence to us parents. It is impossible to speak to her because she is always behind closed doors,  so the secretary is practically running the school.
For example a parent was having issues with the new computer program that was put in by the school, the parents weren’t given a chance to learn the system it was just changed without any information on how to access this new program.
The mother was in distress because she was frustrated that the secretary refused to give her the information she was looking for so she raised her voice in frustration and said that she would not leave the school until she had the code to access her kids grades, she was not violent but instead of taking her aside and speaking with her and correct the situation the principal called the police to remove her from the building.
It has gotten to the point where students and parents are saying openly that the principal is running the school like a dictator. The students haven’t recently formed a student council but it has become none functional due to the fact that the principal arbitrary negates whatever ideas they put forward. They are not allowed to go on field trips and the highly popular dress down day was also abolished without reason. She doesn’t ask any questions or take a vote on an idea,  if she doesn’t want it… out it goes.
A parent went to speak to the principal because the child was being bullied by three boys and the secretary told the parent that they had to make an appointment to speak with the principal but no specific date or time was given. Weeks later there is still no appointment with the principal.
If a parent has a disagreement with the principal the parent is then flagged as a troublemaker and then a letter is sent to the parent that the child can’t come back to the school for the next school year.
Several parents have received letters like this.
When they had parent teachers interview the principal was absent from the school, she didn’t think it was important for her to stay to meet with the parents.
When we as parents question how did they arrive at their decision to not have the children return, the principal claim that the admission committee decided, and we know for a fact that there is no admission committee because it is not listed in the handbook.  There is nothing in the handbook that she refers to often that says your child will be expelled if you the parent have a disagreement with the principal or teachers. Children are being suspended for silly things. One child was given a suspension for one week for giggling with three other boys. No letter  was sent  to the parents so they sent him to school the next day. When the principal saw him she screamed at him “what are you doing here? Get out”, and threw him out of the school. Is this the way to treat children?
One parent remarked, “I think they sent her here to destroy the school”.
The children are so unhappy many of them want to leave the school, they say its not fun going there anymore.
There is hardly any supervision when the kids are on the playground. Recently a parent found three boys on Sherbrook street running wild and she had to stop gather them up and bring them back to the school. No one knew they were missing.
The supervision at the school is so poor that a parent with a dangerous criminal record who is not suppose to be with minors was allowed to visit various classrooms and was even allowed to go on a field trip with the young students.  We parents are very worried about this criminal, a convicted murderer being in the school with our children and that the principal has allowed this person to roam the hallways of the school freely.
The children both high school and elementary are not allowed to enter or exit through the front door anymore, instead they have a man standing at the front door barring it. Now the kids have to exit through a small door at the back of the school and it is very unsafe because sometimes the children are fighting with each other.
We have written letters to The Quebec Conference of SDA and The Canadian union of SDA in Oshawa but nothing has been done, our complaints have fallen on deaf ears, they allow this principal to continue the abuse of the school. Now we want to make the public aware of the conditions of the school before the institution collapses.
The situation is so bad at the school that some of us have contacted the Quebec Board of Education.
We are paying money for our kids to go to this school and the lack of communication is unbelievable. Some parents are so frustrated they are considering just removing their kids. Imagine six weeks before school ends we are faced with this dilemma of finding a new school for our kids.

A Concerned Parent