The Scandal at TFS

Parents send their kids to Toronto French School so they can be rigorously groomed to join the ranks of the international elite. But the school’s sterling reputation was tarnished after a dispute between students erupted into accusations of drug dealing, racism and sexual favours. Then the headmaster opened his mouth and made everything worse By Leah McLaren

Image credit: Jesse Boles

On a cold, bright October afternoon, a luxury SUV convoy inches past the patrician brick buildings of Toronto French School to collect precious cargo. The school’s leafy campus is at the corner of Bayview and Lawrence, steps from the Granite Club and nestled between the grand houses of Lawrence Park and the Bridle Path. Herds of kids pour from the double doors of Giles Hall, jostling and shrieking about nothing in the way that they’re demographically hard-wired to do.

It was on a day much like this one—Thursday, October 23, 2008, to be exact—that Omar Elgammal got in the fight that would break the school’s placid façade. Elgammal is a slight 15-year-old, five feet, seven inches tall, with long black eyelashes and a sullen stare. At the time, he was a middling student at TFS, the kind of kid who was better at pulling pranks and joking in class than completing his homework. As one of his former classmates put it, “Omar was a goof, but he was a guy you could trust.” TFS, like most private schools, has a strict code of conduct (even gum chewing is prohibited). The school had placed Elgammal on a “behavioural contract” because he often messed around in class. If he crossed the line again, he’d be punished.

Both of Omar’s older siblings had attended Toronto French School. His parents, Ibrahim and Nora Elgammal, who are Muslim—observant but, in their words, “not fanatical”—came to Toronto from Cairo 40 and 30 years ago respectively. The Elgammals prospered in Canada. Ibrahim became a prominent engineer, and he and his wife own a pulp and paper trading company. Today they drive a black Mercedes and live in a red brick colonial mini-mansion on a quiet cul-de-sac just off the Bridle Path. They were generous donors to Toronto French School, contributing money to a basketball court and a classroom in the name of their two older children. In the 2008 annual report, the Elgammals’ name appears under “Innovateurs,” the second highest benefactor bracket.

Omar’s best friend at TFS was Danial Velshi. Velshi is also Muslim, but of Filipino heritage. From the beginning of the 2008 school year, Elgammal and Velshi claim, a former TFS student who hung around campus had been taunting them with racist jokes. The student, according to several students I spoke to, regularly visited the school to sell weed he kept in his black knapsack. While most of his customers paid in cash, he was also rumoured to accept sexual favours from a female student in exchange for pot.

At first, Elgammal and Velshi shrugged off his insults. But as the semester progressed, his comments started to grate. Students said he often referred to Omar’s father as “Bin Laden,” denounced the Elgammal family as terrorists and pretended to activate a handheld detonator when he saw Omar walking in his direction. To Velshi, he’d say things like, “When’s your mom going to come shine my shoes? When’s she going to come clean my house?”

And so Elgammal and Velshi did what most pissed-off teens would do: they took matters into their own hands. When the former student showed up on campus after class that Thursday in October and started to provoke them, Elgammal grabbed his knapsack and took it to a bus stop at Bayview. “It was a prank,” recalls one witness. “They were just trying to get back at him for all the teasing.” Although Elgammal gave him the bag back, all three walked over to Cheltenham Park, an open acre of grass around the block from TFS.

Originally published January 2010

4 Comments

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Based on several exceptionally pretentious TFS alumnae I have encountered over the years and this school's acceptance of racial slurs, I am no longer interested in sending my children to this school as I once was. I hope TFS is forced to learn the consequences of their own actions. Good luck to the family in their lawsuit. Hopefully they will donate the money they win to schools with less fortunate students who have to bear this reality every day.
December 24, 2009 | by eccentricFEMINISTA

This article is a biased piece of tosh. Am sorry, but I'm having trouble reading and trusting an in-depth piece written by Leah McLaren -- hardly a journalist known for her hard-hitting pieces (most recent examples include: "Hell isn't other people: It's other people discount shopping" and "I'm not on your Christmas card list this year? Cool"). Also, I might take the piece more seriously if Leah McLaren bothered to get both sides of the story, not just trick the school into writing a profile piece and then twist words so that she could churn out a sensationalist piece for Toronto Life. Oh wow, look at Leah, the queen of banal kvetching - now she's all grown up writing a piece about a lawsuit at a private school with a sexy title to boot. Well done!
As a former TFSer, I can assure you that racist is one of the last words I'd ever use to describe the institution or anyone who runs it. Sure, it's not a school without its problems and little dramas (like any school - public or private), but I don't for one second believe that the school would dismiss a student in an unfair fashion and I don't buy any form of racism. Moreover, I'm thoroughly convinced of this because the other boy and his family are not pressing charges or courting the press (and it would be interesting to know if the Elgammal family got paid for this interview or any others they've done/are doing) . The "scandal" doesn't sit well with me at all, and neither does this piece - mainly because of the poor research and interview skills. If there's any private school in Toronto that attracts an array of cultures and religions, it's the Toronto French School. The school does this for a very good reason: it's a superb school (for far too many reasons that can be listed here). The fact that the Headmaster is keeping "schtum" about this entire affair and the allegations is because it's an ongoing case, and it should be resolved behind closed doors before anyone issues press releases or speaks with media. Only then, Toronto Life should choose a journalist that can do his or her job properly: to get both sides of the story in an informed and trustworthy fashion. And just a small request: maybe choose a journalist who hasn't penned a piece like "Let's get to the bottom of our butt obsession". You may have more readers who'd take a serious piece - well - more seriously.
December 29, 2009 | by northtorontogal

The request for the other side of the story is definitely warranted. A little sensationalism in the piece as well? Sure... But by no means does that discount the potential of such a situation actually occurring as it has been laid out here. In fact, it is highly likely that the events occurred exactly as spelled out here and the appropriate criticism that can be leveled against those in charge at the school is that of ignorance and haste, not racism. Nothing surrounding these events is new, sounds exactly like when I was in high school, PUBLIC high school.
January 21, 2010 | by spguevara

Though McLaren has clearly made a career out of being loathed, the real problem here is Toronto Life and its continually lowering standards in just about everything. Here's a barely-researched story about nothing, but McLaren's name is all TL needs to OK the piece to appear in their mag. I'm looking forward to the day when Toronto Life stops boring me senseless with flimsy pieces by the same five writers, and I can stop regretting my subscription.
February 9, 2010 | by Alexandrab_52

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