Province Ontario | ||
Address 1151 Richmond St, London, ON N6A 2K5, Canada Similar Stoney Creek Off‑Leash, Greenway Off Leash Dog Park, Gibbons Park, Greenway Parking, Victoria Park | ||
Weldon Park Academy was a private school located at 451 Ridout Street North in London, Ontario that closed down in 2004. The school offered students a contiguous education from Montessori Casa up to OAC and was a member of the Conference of Independent Schools. The Lower School (grades one to five) and Middle School (grades six to eight), were among the best in the city and the staff genuinely cared for the school and its students. The school taught students at an advanced level; students regularly learned mathematics, science, and French a grade early. Weldon Park Academy attracted the children of many of London's elite, while many foreign students chose to study in Upper School.
Students were required to wear uniforms while at school. In Lower School, males wore grey pants, a dress shirt, and a red vest emblazoned with the school crest, while females wore a blouse and tunic. In Middle School, males added a school tie to their uniform, while females adopted a kilt with white shirt, red vest, and tie. In Upper School, males and females dropped the vest in favour of a blazer.
History
The school was founded in April 1995 by a group of parents and business leaders from London, Ontario. They hoped to provide students with a comprehensive education that would allow them to study with the same peers from their childhood to graduation from high school; it was their goal that the school would one day be able to offer the International Baccalaureate diploma. The school was originally intended to be located at a library building at Weldon Park in Arva, Ontario, but on the day the school was to be first presented to the public, the school administration and the parents were informed that zoning bylaws would not permit a private school at that location.
The school was opened the next year in Spencer Lodge, a small building that was shared with the Scout Shop, but the school's original name of Weldon Park Academy was kept. With an initial enrollment of less than fifty students, the school was soon hailed as the fastest growing private school in Canada. The school was not without its problems: notable events that year included a structure fire and a flood that destroyed numerous books in basement located class rooms.
In 1997, the school was no longer small enough to fit in Spencer Lodge, and it moved to the previous Graphics Building at the University of Western Ontario. After another three years, the school had outgrown that building as well, and the school moved into its final home of the renovated Labbatt Building, also the site of the first private school in London. This was a gigantic six-storey building that could more than hold the approximately 400 enrolled students; it also featured state-of-the-art science laboratories. The school benefitted from its close proximity to the London Regional Art and Historical Museum, where students took art lessons, and Harris Park, used for sports activities. In 2000, the school finally became accredited with the International Baccalaureate Organization, achieving its longtime goal.
By 2001 a struggle between the Board of Governors and the Senior Administration of the school had fully developed. The Volunteer Board was pressing for an increased operational presence in the school. This push was in violation of established policies and was greatly opposed by the school administration.
The dispute between the Board and the Headmaster was further elevated when the Board of Governors insisted that, because of their volunteer positions, they should qualify for bursaries and scholarships in recognition of their service. One Board member insisted that as he was an original school founder, that his three children be given free tuition in perpetuity. This Board member’s conflict of interest, coupled with the Headmaster’s expulsion of a child of another Board member for a gross violation of the school code of conduct resulted in a governance battle between the Board and the Headmaster. In addition to the alleged claim of free tuition, WPA was under harsh media scrutiny for there tax evasion practices. http://www.jamiegolombek.com/articledetail.php?article_id=663 An article dated December 13th 2004 told the story quite well. Manjit Brar learned this lesson the hard way in a tax case released last week -- one that didn't even involve a tax shelter.
In 2000, Mr. Brar and his wife took their three children out of the public school system and enrolled them in Weldon Park Academy, a London, Ont., private school.
Before enrolling the children, however, Mr. Brar ensured that the total cost of private school tuition would not exceed $10,000. Concluding that this amount was both reasonable and within his budget, he paid the full amount by cheque prior to Sept. 1, 2000.
Mr. Brar testified that shortly thereafter, he and his wife decided to make a "voluntary donation" of $3,000, in cash, to Weldon Park in addition to the $10,000 of tuition already paid. He testified that it was given "on a completely voluntary basis without conditions or consideration."
The Canada Revenue Agency disallowed his donation tax credit in respect of the $3,000 donation. The reason for doing so was that the CRA felt that it was not a gift since a gift is a "voluntary transfer of property without valuable consideration or benefit accruing to the donor or to anyone designated by the donor as a result of the transfer."
The CRA concluded that the donation was actually an amount calculated by Weldon Park -- in other words, part of the tuition, receipted as a donation, and therefore not a voluntary gift.
In fact, in 2001, after becoming aware of "unorthodox or illegal charitable donation receipts," the directors of Weldon Park fired their headmaster and financial officer. In June 2003, the school shut down after a steady decline in enrolment from 470 students in 2001 to 140 in 2003.
The judge had to determine whether or not the $3,000 receipt represented part of the $10,000 tuition or was in fact a separate donation. If it was part of the $10,000 tuition, then it was issued inappropriately by the school and invalid. If it was a separate payment, then perhaps it was, indeed, a valid donation.
The judge doubted that a separate $3,000 "cash" donation was ever made. Mr. Brar testified that he and his wife had a "reserve of cash at home" from which she took $3,000 to donate to Weldon Park. The judge found this hard to believe since Mr. Brar claimed that he could not even afford to pay the Tax Court's $100 filing fee, despite this "cash reserve." According to the judge, "the fact that he claims the donation was made in cash makes me skeptical."
The judge denied the donation claim concluding that Mr. Brar "was on a restricted budget and it is inconceivable that he made a voluntary $3,000 donation increasing the amount paid to Weldon from $10,000 to $13,000. ... The $3,000 was part of the $10,000 tuition fees and on a balance of probabilities, it was not given voluntarily." The Board of Governors subsequently terminated the contract of the founding Headmaster Frank Marchese, along with the Assistant Headmaster, the CFO and the Senior Academic Director /Admissions Officer.
This was as a major turning point in the school's history and brought about a general lack of confidence as many of the students and teachers had known the Headmaster personally. The new Headmaster, Terry Clifford, was seen as cold to parents' and students' concerns, seeking mainly to employ his family members and his personal lawyers to senior administrative positions within the school. At the end of the academic year, the school refused to renew the contracts of many of the teachers, while others left voluntarily. Enrollment plummeted as students lost teachers with whom they had grown up. The school went through a number of headmasters in the next couple of years, before closing in 2004 and transferring ownership of the building to Nancy Campbell Collegiate Institute, where a few of the teachers and students chose to continue.
Few, if any, of the founding students and teachers remain at the school; some of the students transferred to London Central Secondary School or other local schools, while others are now in university. Most of the teachers are teaching elsewhere or have retired.