In the school's inaugural year, it took the midget girl's relay title in a competition.
Football program The head coach of the school's football program, from 2002 to 2013, was
Rob Ford, (affectionately known as "The F-150" by the school), the
Mayor of Toronto from 2010 until 2014. Ford had previously been a coach at
Newtonbrook Secondary School, until a 2001 confrontation with a student. The
Canadian Taxpayers Federation lodged criticism against Ford for using city resources for the program. Two of Ford's summer football teams list two of Ford's city-paid special assistants as contacts, providing the numbers for their city-owned cellphones. Sources claimed Ford used a city car to ferry players to games and practices. Ford skipped 5 1/2 hours of a City executive committee meeting to attend a "pre-season jamboree" with his team, not telling his council allies. Ford talked to
Sun News Network about the program, how many students "come from gangs" and "broken homes", and without football would have "no reason to go to school". Some Don Bosco school staff sent an anonymous group letter to senior Catholic school board officials, decrying Ford's comments about the school to Sun News, calling them "no reflection of the real" school. The board launched an investigation about the comments. At a parent meeting, some attendees expressed concern that the school is too often called "Rob Ford's". In May 2013, the
Toronto Star saw video of Ford calling the students "just f---ing minorities"; the school board refused to comment, having not seen the video. On May 22, the Toronto Catholic District School Board dismissed Ford from the coaching position. One-time player Anthony Smith was murdered March 28, 2013. A photo of Smith with Ford was widely used as illustration during reportage of the alleged drug video. In June 2013, police conducted raids as part of Project Traveller; murder charges in this case are expected. Later, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed the existence of the video on October 31, 2013. ==See also==