The decision does not appear to be related to the crack cocaine scandal Ford is now facing — which centres on a video in which Ford appears to smoke crack cocaine and refer to Don Bosco players as “just f---ing minorities.” Director of education Bruce Rodrigues had been reviewing Ford’s role at Don Bosco since March, and spokesperson John Yan said Ford’s dismissal was finalized before the scandal erupted last week.
“He can coach wherever he wants, but not at a TCDSB school,” Yan said Wednesday.
The review was prompted by an interview with Sun News in which Ford made comments that were called inaccurate by Don Bosco’s parent council, many teachers at the Etobicoke school, and even the offensive coordinator on Ford’s coaching staff. Among other contested statements, Ford said that Eagles players would not attend school if not for the football program, that many players “come from gangs” and from “broken homes,” and that Don Bosco is a “tough school” in a “tough area.”
“Mr. Ford has helped our students rise to the challenge and realize their potential as both football players and young men,” Rodrigues said in a statement. “This decision was based on what is best for our students, our school and the Don Bosco community.”
Ford has now been ousted twice from a volunteer football coaching position. He moved to Don Bosco after he was told he was unwelcome at the Toronto District School Board’s Newtonbrook Secondary in North York after a heated 2001 confrontation with a player.
TDSB chair Chris Bolton said Ford is welcome to apply again to volunteer as a coach with one of the board’s schools. “It’s always our position that we vet whoever it is who comes through our processes and our checks, and anyone who has a skill that we need, we would be willing to have them,” Bolton said.
Still, the abrupt end of Ford’s tenure at Don Bosco is no doubt painful for him. He started the program with thousands of dollars of his own money in 2001 or 2002.
Ford’s role as coach was a central component of his political persona. Like most everything else about him, it was polarizing.
To admirers, the mayor’s devotion to the Don Bosco team was evidence of his concern for the disadvantaged and for the young — an easy rebuttal to the accusation that he was a hard-hearted slasher for opposing government grants and social programs. To detractors — and even to many council allies — his devotion was evidence of his unwillingness to commit fully to the job of mayor.
Catholic trustee Maria Rizzo endorsed the board’s decision, saying Ford does not “model appropriate behaviour” for students. John Del Grande, a trustee and the son of Ford ally Councillor Mike Del Grande, said he has heard many Don Bosco players thank Ford for his efforts to help them in their lives.
“He tried his best. He’s not the most polished character, I think everyone can admit that. But his heart was in the right place,” John Del Grande said.
The school’s parent council said in a statement that its supports the board’s decision to remove Ford at Don Bosco.
“We thank Mr. Rob Ford for the 11 years that he has dedicated to the Eagles,” the parent council said. “He has done a great job coaching the team. We wish him all the best.”
Ford took three hours off work nearly every weekday afternoon during the three-month fall season to coach practice; his internal itineraries for September, October and November were nearly empty after 1 p.m. In September of last year, he drew widespread criticism for skipping 5.5 hours of a meeting of his own executive committee to coach the team at a pre-season “jamboree” scrimmage in Newmarket.
In November, he missed 2.5 hours of a city council meeting to coach a playoff game, then found himself embroiled in another controversy after a Don Bosco player revealed on Twitter that a TTC bus had picked the Eagles up after the game and ferried them back to their school.
Asked upon his return to the meeting why he had chosen football over work, Ford told reporters flatly: “I only missed two hours. A semi-final football game. It’s the playoffs. We’re undefeated. We’re number two in the city.”
Ford had taxpayer-paid staffers help him manage the team, a practice that prompted rare criticism from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. In a likely violation of city rules, the aides used a government car to attend games and practices — once even while Ford was away on a business mission to Chicago.
Numerous allies told Ford privately that he should surrender his coaching duties while serving as mayor, or at least hand the reins to an assistant coach during city meetings. Ford ignored them, though he had promised during the 2010 campaign to quit coaching if he was elected.
Ford led the Eagles to a Catholic title and then to the Metro Bowl championship game in the 2012 season. Despite all the controversy, he pledged to return as coach in 2013.
“I’ve made a commitment, I’ve done it for 20 years, and I’m not changing,” he told reporters at the meeting in November. He told the Star in 2007: “I’d do anything for these kids. Football has given many of them another life and unified them; kept them busy doing the right things and believing in themselves. I know they’ll tell you the same thing. It’s a credit to each of them.”
Much of the Don Bosco community came to believe that Ford was tarnishing the reputation of the school and its students. Don Bosco students and teachers held a “Give Your School A Hug Day” in October in response to what some believed was a Ford-fuelled perception that it is a downtrodden football factory.
Nicholas Thompson, 16, delivered a speech about stereotypes. He said Don Bosco’s black students were perceived unfairly. “It’s just like, ‘We’re bad, we’re thieves, we’re criminals, we’re just sports stars,’” he told the Star.
Ford has become a vocal critic of “Section 37” agreements, under which the city allows developers to build bigger buildings than allowed under zoning rules if they agree to spend money on “community benefits.” But when Lowe’s wanted approval to build in Ford’s ward in 2010, he successfully asked the company to spend $75,000 to upgrade the locker rooms used by the Don Bosco football team.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Daniel Dale
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