Stratford police have charged a St. Michael Catholic secondary school employee with assaulting a 16-year-old student from Stratford District secondary school Monday morning.
Police said they were contacted shortly before 11 am Monday about a disturbance at Stratford District secondary school. Moments later, police said they received a second call that the disturbance also involved St. Michael Catholic secondary school, located next door to the public high school.
“We had a disturbance about a staff member who had assaulted a Stratford District secondary school student, and students from Stratford District were upset about what had happened and were causing a disturbance as a result,” Stratford police Const. Darren Fischer said. “(They were) just yelling and screaming and arguing about what had happened, and wanting justice. … The whole situation had broken up at this point. The accused was back at St. Mike’s and the victim was at Stratford District, and other students in general were just kind of looking for justice.”
With the help of administrative staff from both high schools, police found all the parties involved. After speaking with them, police determined an employee of the Catholic high school allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old female student, who suffered minor injuries.
Fischer said he couldn’t disclose the nature or cause of the alleged assault but said the victim did not require medical treatment.
The accused, a 66-year-old Stratford resident, was subsequently arrested and taken to Stratford police headquarters, where they were charged with assault. They were later released from police custody on an undertaking and are required to appear in Stratford court on Feb. 27 to answer to the charge.
Neither police nor representatives from the Huron-Perth Catholic District school board would disclose the identity of the staff member involved or their position at the school.
“I can’t comment on it because it’s a personal issue. … What I can say is that the employee is on leave while we’re conducting the investigation,” said Chris Roehrig, the Catholic school board’s director of education.