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The mother of a seven-year-old boy who has been diagnosed with autism is speaking out after he recently told her his gym teacher at Legacy Christian Academy allegedly hit him twice on the head during class, injuring him.
650 CKOM is withholding both the mother and the child’s names in order to protect the child’s identity — the mother will be referred to only as L.G.
Legacy Christian Academy, also known as Christian Centre Academy, is the same school involved in a $25-million class action lawsuit filed by dozens of former students alleging abuse at the hands of former staff members.
The school’s former athletic director, Aaron Benneweis, was sentenced in January to two years less a day for sexual assault, and sexual exploitation of a minor — those incidents occurred between 2008 and 2012 while he worked there.
Three other former staff members, including a former principal, are now also facing charges.
On May 16, L.G. said she was picking up her son at school when he complained that his head hurt. She asked whether he’d bumped his head on the playground.
“He said ‘my gym teacher hit me on the head with the metal baton twice,’ and I was like, ‘are you sure, are you serious?’ and he was like, ‘yeah, it was the blue metal baton because we’re learning to do relay races,'” she recalled.
L.G. said her son told her he’d been distracted during the demonstration when the teacher allegedly struck him.
“He had a goose egg on his head, and I gave him some Tylenol,” she said. Her son then referred to other incidents where the teacher allegedly used the back of her hand to strike her son.
L.G. alleges her son was hit twice by a teacher at Legacy Christian Academy on May 16. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)
According to emails provided, L.G. contacted the school’s principal the next morning and, after waiting some time for a response, Christine Gamache, the school’s principal, seemed to indicate the incident wasn’t of a serious nature.
“She finally responded and was like ‘OK I’ve talked to the teacher in question and she admits she tapped him on the head twice with the baton, but it was not hard enough to make him cry,'” said L.G.
In the email exchange, Gamache seems to acknowledge something had happened.
“I am very sorry about this. I will look into it immediately and follow up with you. I am sorry this is a quick email between meetings just to let you know I am dealing with this,” it read.
No indication was given as to how the alleged incident was dealt with and L.G. said she’s since pulled her son out of Legacy Academy. She is now homeschooling him for the remainder of the year.
She’s also recently filed complaints with Saskatoon police and the Education Ministry.
Both the Ministry of Education and Saskatoon police confirm they are investigating an alleged assault at Legacy Christian Academy.
A statement from Mitchell Blair, Senior Media Relations Consultant for the Ministry of Education, read “The Ministry is aware of the complaint, is currently investigating the issue and is engaging with the family to understand the nature of the allegation. As these matters involve specific individuals, we are not at liberty to discuss details publicly.”
Saskatoon Police also confirm they received a report that was filed June 1st, consistent with allegations of an assault of a child at the school.
L.G. said she doesn’t want any other child hurt, and believes both the teacher in question and the principal should be fired.
“She (the teacher) should not be allowed to be around children if you can not control your anger,” she said.
650 CKOM has also reached out to Gamache by telephone and email. No response was received by the time of publication.