All’s well that ends well: that’s what students and parents of Ă©cole Alexandre-TachĂ© must be saying about their school principal.
Parents and students contacted The Gazette in late April about an e-mail sent out by their principal, Marcel Ouellette. In it, he stated his contract had not been renewed, and that in effect he had been dismissed by the Greater North Central Francophone school board.
Apparently, whatever issues prompted the e-mail have now been resolved.
In another message on Thursday, Ouellette said: “On Monday, April 29th, a cordial and positive meeting was held between the Superintendent and the Associate Superintendent of the Conseil scolaire Centre-Nord and me to clarify our previous discussions.
“Following this meeting, the trustees, monsieur Lemire and madame Bugeaud wish that I remain principal of Ă©cole Alexandre-TachĂ© and I am proud to continue to lead our school. It is more important than ever to work positively together and leverage our efforts to establish our new and real francophone secondary school for our youth and the youth of tomorrow.
“Your continued support has been overwhelming and appreciated. Please accept my apologies for any stress that you and your children may have experienced during this time.”
The principal said everything had been ironed out. “Yeah, it’s good,” he said.
“Very positive. I’m so impressed with the school community. I’m more than deeply touched.”
Division superintendent Henri Lemire previously told The Gazette Ouellette had not been fired.
He said the situation has now been cleared up. “I was always confident it would be,” he said Thursday.
Lemire said the situation originated through a misunderstanding in a conversation. “It probably became too public, too quickly,” said the superintendent.
Parents and students started Facebook pages to save Ouellette’s job, and staged multiple picket protests to show support for the man they called “our beloved principal.”
