The principal of Danforth Tech Collegiate says she is working to create an atmosphere of “pride and ownership” amongst students after a deliberately-set fire in the school’s drama room displaced hundreds of them last April.
Denise Martins made the comment to CP24 after giving reporters a tour of the freshly-renovated school Thursday morning.
Responding to a suggestion that the person responsible for the still-unsolved blaze may be a student still walking the hallways of the school, Martins stressed the importance of community building.
“I think all people have issues of concern but our goal is to make sure we are building a community of trust and a community of pride and ownership,” she said. “Hopefully an individual, should they have been responsible, will see how this tragedy has impacted the lives of a lot of people.”
Last April’s blaze shut down about two dozen classrooms for the remainder of the school year, forcing hundreds of students to attend Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute to continue their studies.
All but two of those classrooms have now been reopened with the drama and music room expected to reopen before the end of the calendar year after a “full rebuild.”
“We are in much better shape and we are back to business as usual,” Martins told CP24.
About 1,200 students attend Danforth Tech.
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