Bell High School (Ottawa)

Bell High School is a high school located in the Bells Corners neighbourhood of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Bell High School
Address
40 Cassidy Road

Ottawa
,
Ontario
,
K2H 6K1

Canada
Coordinates45°19′33″N 75°48′35″W
Information
MottoVitam Impendere Vero
(Seek truth in life)
Founded1962
School boardOttawa Carleton District School Board
PrincipalJon Harris
Staff~80
Grades7-12
Enrollment707 (2022)
LanguageEnglish, French
Campus typeSuburban
Colour(s)Red, black and white    
Team nameBruins
NewspaperThe Bell Roar
Communities servedBells Corners, Nepean, Bayshore, Crystal Beach, Kanata, Barrhaven
Public transit accessOC Transpo: 88, 97, 152, 256, 658, 660, 661, 665, 669, 675, 681
Websitebellhs.ocdsb.ca

The school was established by the Carleton Board of Education in 1962 as a public high school for grades 9-13. In 2018, Bell High School became a 7-12 school after the nearby D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate School closed down.

Facilities and infrastructure

Bell High School is located on a 10 hectare (25 acre) campus. The school building itself is in the shape of the letter "E" and divided into several wings. Each wing contains a different educational discipline, one each for science, mathematics, English, and social studies. The school also has a cafeteria, a library, two music rooms, an art studio, a drama studio, a dance studio, a drafting studio, two full-sized gyms, a greenhouse, an automotive garage, two construction workshops, a soccer/football field with a 400-meter gravel track, and indoor weight training and exercise facilities. In 2021, the building was expanded to accommodate the newly-integrated intermediate students from the former D. A. Moodie Intermediate School. The school is adjacent to two baseball diamonds, a soccer/football field, an indoor ice rink (Bell Centennial Arena), and a forested section of the Greenbelt.

OC Transpo routes buses serving Bayshore, Crystal Beach, Kanata, and Barrhaven to the school.[1]

Student activities

Bell High School offers programs in gifted education, advanced placement, enrichment studies, student exchange, French immersion, and an ESL in addition to the normal academic program.[2] Approximately 50% of the school's student population are transfers from other districts who attend Bell High School for these specialized programs.

Bell High School engages extensively in fundraising efforts. Through these efforts, Bell has contributed significantly to the local community and even managed to construct a sister school in Kenya[3] which it maintains as an ongoing humanitarian project. Other than its fundraisers and humanitarian projects, Bell High School also hosts a plethora of events to actively promote arts and culture, though performances, banquets, and shows.

The school also has a large roster of sports teams which in many sports under the Bell Bruins name. The teams offered by Bell High School include: tennis, soccer, football, basketball, volleyball, badminton, field hockey, rugby, cross country running, Nordic skiing, Alpine skiing, hockey, track and field, curling, baseball, wrestling and swimming.

Sexual abuse scandal

In 2018, Bell High School was the focus of an investigation by CBC that uncovered a sexual abuse scandal spanning three decades. Three teachers were accused of sexually assaulting students between the early 1970s and the 2000s. The accused teachers were Don Greenham, the school's basketball coach, Bob Clarke and Tim Stanutz, both music teachers. Of the three, only Clarke was found guilty and sentenced to time in federal prison. Both Greenham and Stanutz died before their criminal trials commenced. A podcast, The Band Played On was produced providing the details of the investigation.

In 2022, a disciplinary panel with the Ontario College of Teachers found a fourth former Bell High School teacher, Peter Des Brisay, guilty of professional misconduct after sexually abusing a student in the late 1990s.[4]

Notable alumni

See also

References
  1. "OC Tranpso - High Schools and Middle Schools". OC Transpo.com. OC Transpo. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. "Bell High School - School Profile". Archived from the original on 20 July 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  3. "Bell Raises money for school in Kenya". Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  4. Ireton, Julie (27 May 2022). "Retired Ottawa teacher sanctioned for sexual abuse of student in 1990s". CBC News. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
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