An open letter from alumni of St. John Catholic High School, Perth Ontario.

We are alumni of St. John Catholic High School, and we stand in support of the current students who walked out of their online schooling on Tuesday, May 11th, in solidarity with the victims of former SJCHS teacher Jeff Peters.

Like the students who logged out of their online classes, teams, & meetings on Tuesday, we are appalled to hear that several SJCHS faculty members attended a farewell party for Peters just days before his sentencing, and deeply disappointed in how the school administration has handled this incident, by protecting the identities of the teachers involved and coaching all school staff to deflect questions from concerned students and parents about the party.

At SJCHS we were taught that it was not only important for us to be strong students, but to be a strong community. We took pride in our school’s commitment to social justice, to caring for one another, & for the world around us. We read books depicting abuse & studied not only sentence structure, but power structure. Our teachers taught us well. We are grown now. & we are here to remind you of lessons that seem to have been forgotten.

To the teachers who hosted & attended the farewell party for their disgraced colleague, we say: Some of you have claimed that you were not fully aware of the seriousness of Peters’ actions at the time you attended the illegal party in his honour. How much more serious did it need to be than it was from November-December 2019, when four former students came forward with charges of sexual assault & exploitation, which were a matter of public record, discussed in multiple articles both in local news sources & the CBC? Do you mean that you trusted Peters’ vague apology to you for his misconduct over the fact that four young people, likely young people you also taught at some point, had bravely come forward to tell the truth about how Peters harmed them in court? Do you mean that you chose not to pay attention to the case because the accused was your friend? These are reactions people often have when somebody they like is accused of sexual misconduct. And these are reactions you had over a year to wrestle with in more appropriate ways, with your role as an educator in mind, before you chose to show up at a goodbye party for your colleague as if he were simply retiring or going on an extended holiday. Was your sense of “closure” truly worth breaking the hearts of your students, current and former (not to mention breaking lockdown restrictions)? We have all been wrestling with this knowledge in our own ways since we heard the news. Many of us have spent long hours revisiting memories of a teacher we once respected, reviewing small signs we missed at the time of boundaries being tested & our fellow students being mistreated, mourning moments from our school days we once treasured that are now forever tainted. We’ve sought closure too, in speaking with confidants, in exploring media about similar situations to find our complicated feelings reflected in people both real & fictional, in expressing the tip of the iceberg of those feelings on social media as we passed around the updates on the case. We can only imagine what this process has been like for current SJCHS students & their families. Did you find the closure you were looking for at Peters’ party? Did anybody tell the truth you were missing there, or was this a gathering based in denial? Did you consider how it might harm your students’ ability to gain closure for themselves when they learned that teachers who were still in a position of authority over them had gathered in support of their former teacher before his sentencing for violating their peers? When you came to regret doing so, why did you insist on remaining anonymous & make your excuses to the press, rather than facing your students with a sincere apology for the harm you perpetuated? Have you apologised to your colleagues who did not attend, who are now being ordered to protect you by deflecting questions about this incident, & may thereby come under suspicion themselves by students & families when they are innocent? Have you reckoned with the profound lack of trust your actions have perpetuated at this delicate moment for your school community? How will you begin the real work you must do to help your community to recover, your students to be truly safe, & their parents to trust you & your colleagues to guard that safety? You’ve dug yourself in. We sincerely hope to see you rise to the seriousness of the occasion, now that you know.

To the administration, who have coached teachers to deflect questions & concerns about this incident from students & parents, we say: Protecting the circle around an abuser is not how you regain trust & safety in a school community after an abuser is finally out. You have been entrusted with the safety of a student body that is far too wise & too caring to accept anything less than transparency, accountability, & honest discussion of what has transpired. We are watching you. It is not our place as alumni to state what justice should look like for your current students, but they have expressed very clearly & powerfully that the defensiveness & avoidance you have offered will not suffice. Your students & their families are not inquiring about their teachers’ involvement in this incident to disrupt class. They want to know if they are safe in class, safe participating in extracurricular activities, safe trusting the people you have trusted to teach them. Your position is unenviable, but your current choices are inexcusable. You have the opportunity to build a better school than you had before. You also have the potential to perpetuate the harm that Peters caused despite his physical absence from the building. Listen to your students. They are the reason you are here. Lanark County has excellent resources for restorative justice, if that is an avenue your students are interested in pursuing. Whatever path you follow, know that we are following along, and that we hope to see you succeed in being the school your students deserve, commensurate with the values you preached to us when we were in their shoes.

To those who were abused by Mr. Peters, whether or not you have come forward, we say: We believe you. We are so sorry for all you have been through, including this disrespect by members of staff and school administration. We wish you healing, safety, & the protection from harm that you always deserved, & did not get when you needed it most.

To the students who participated in the walk out, we say: We see you. We hear you. We are proud of you for standing up for justice & not allowing the administration to brush this unacceptable incident under the rug. In you, we see the true manifestation of the principles that were always listed as community values when we were students of SJCHS. You have stuck your necks out to fight for what’s right while the so-called adults in the room have cowered in anonymity & refused accountability. We wish you all the best in your quest for true closure & the restoration of a school community where you can truly feel safe & able to learn & thrive.

To the educators who are enraged at being asked to help sweep your colleagues’ thoughtless behaviour under the rug, & the parents who support your children in expressing their frustration with the school, we say: You are the real adults in the room. Someday soon, we hope you can be part of a school community where you are not overpowered by those who value keeping quiet over making real peace.

We hope that in lending our voices to the strong message that the SJCHS students sent with their walkout, we can boost the signal & hasten accountability.

In solidarity,
SJCHS Alumni