Principal at school where students protested dress code blitz is leaving job
Marie-Claude Veilleux is taking another position with the school board
The principal of the Orléans high school where a recent dress-code enforcement blitz incited student protests is leaving her job at the end of this month.
The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) announced Marie-Claude Veilleux's departure in a letter addressed to parents Wednesday.
The board's announcement comes two weeks after hundreds of students demonstrated across the street from École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges.
Students denounced staff's enforcement of the code as "humiliating." The day before the protest, mainly girls were pulled out of class to see whether their clothing conformed to the rules.
School staff called police to manage the protest by ensuring students stayed on the sidewalk and slowing traffic.
In the letter to parents, there is no mention of any connection between the recent controversy and the principal's departure.
Veilleux will be replaced by the vice-principal of École secondaire catholique Garneau, Sébastien Pharand, on May 30, but she is not leaving the school board.
She is transferring to a position with the CECCE's learning support services, the letter said.
Pharand has worked with the French Catholic board since 2004.
"It is a homecoming for this professional who worked at Béatrice-Desloges school for more than 15 years as an arts teacher," the letter reads in French.