Dateline: Toronto April 02, 2007 Peter Small, Courts Bureau
A suspended Toronto elementary school principal has pleaded guilty to throwing feces (excrement) on a child. Maria Pantalone, 49, was charged with two counts of assault - one against that child and one against another – but only admitted to one of the charges today. “I couldn’t take it any more,” she testified, in describing the provocative circumstances leading up to the incident last June 30. But she agreed it wasn't in any way justified.
Pantalone, who is the sister of Toronto Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone, was principal of Keele Street Junior Public School and Mountview Alternative, which collectively have 500 students and operate out of the same building near Keele St. and Humberside Ave. The names of the victims cannot be published owing to a ban imposed by provincial court Justice Howard Borenstein. Neither were students at her school.
Since being charged last summer, she has been suspended with pay and ordered to stay away from anyone under the age of 16, unless under supervision. Both Crown prosecutor John Ball and defence lawyer Michael Caroline jointly recommended that she receive an absolute discharge, which will leave her without a criminal record, and enter into a peace bond not to have contact with the two children. Caroline submitted some 20 letters of support for his client, including one signed by 19 staff members at her school.
http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/198600
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It's nice to know in Canada they are sensitive enough to keep someone like this on the payroll for nearly a year AND have the staff stand behind their leader. I guess it's better than standing in front of them where they could get a better aim...
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