Teachers knew half of the kids on ill-fated canoe trip had failed swim test:TDSB
TORONTO — Two teachers knew that nearly half of the 32 students they accompanied on an ill-fated canoe trip earlier this summer had failed a required swim test but allowed them to go anyway, the Toronto District School Board said Thursday.
Fifteen-year-old Jeremiah Perry — one of the students who didn’t pass the swim test prior to the July trip — disappeared under a lake during an evening swim and didn’t resurface. His body was recovered by search and rescue divers the next day.
The board’s executive officer of community and public relations, Ross Parry, said that they trusted teachers to be able to oversee swim tests and to make sure that all students had passed them before being allowed to go on field trips.
“They would be the only people who would know. They would be present for the swim test and present for the pass/fail,” he said.