The Construction of Emery Collegiate’s Education System
By Tim Lambrinos
This month, the Emery Village Voice sat down with the originating contributor of the education system at Emery Collegiate to describe his formula for successful education through sound leadership and meaningful relationship building.
In 1961, Emery Collegiate Institute officially opened their doors as a secondary school. Charlie Brown arrived from Earl Haig Collegiate and was appointed to serve as the first Principal of the school along with a trustworthy lieutenant, Allen S. Merritt who would serve as first Vice-Principal.
Merritt received his B.A. from the University of McMaster in 1944 and began training as a Lieutenant for the Canadian Armed Forces in Brockville, Ontario while stationed at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. After V-E day, Merritt volunteered again and was trained in Vernon, B.C. by U.S. forces to lead an expected invasion of Japan.
The war ended abruptly and Merritt went back to university to receive his M.A. in history from the University of Toronto in 1947. Merritt then became a History and English teacher at Humberside Collegiate near High Park in Toronto. He would also coach the senior boys’ basketball team to two city championships and one provincial final. Merritt felt that teaching at Humberside was a successful educational experience because, “The kids liked their teachers and the teachers like their kids.” It was this experience that would lay the foundation for the need of strong leadership in the education system in following years. In the late fifties, Merritt relocated from Humerside to teach history at Downsview Secondary School in North York and in 1959 transferred to York Mills Collegiate in Don Mills.
Over the next five years, Merritt co- authored two separate textbooks (The Rise of Western Civilization & Canadians and their Governments) used by the educational system throughout all of Ontario. With the building of our community’s new secondary school in 1961, Merritt became the first Vice-Principal of Emery Collegiate Institute followed by him becoming Principal in 1963. Many initial duties fell upon “the lieutenant” including staffing and officiating at the opening ceremonies. 
After two years of running the school, Brown and Merritt met to go over what they both felt was a failure their first two years at Emery. They felt the situation between students and staff could be improved. With Brown’s departure, Merritt then took over the reins of the school in 1963 and immediately focused on recruitment in order to get suitable teachers matched to the community. Merritt identified with the Latin saying, “Sine Qua Non” which meant if you haven’t got good relationships, you have nothing. Merritt felt that younger teachers would ideally serve in some posts and might be better suited for Emery’s students as a whole to inspire learning. He was instrumental in hiring quality teachers at Emery like Don Fraser, Tom Connolly, Alan Evans, Bill Madden and Dianne Bethune.
Also, Merritt felt it was essential to put together school shows, an important building and relationship exercise for students and teachers alike. Along with his advanced connections in the education system, Merritt put greater effort into the recruitment, interview and selection process for his new teachers. He pushed hard and initiated student-teacher relationship building through a strong music program, sporting teams and school shows. His formula worked. Emery Collegiate became known as a location that teachers requested teaching at. After Merritt was relocated reluctantly back to York Mills Collegiate in 1969, he recommended passing the torch to another fine man who he knew would carry on the same philosophy and formula of success for Emery’s students - Marsh Morris. W.
M. Morris had been the Principal at Emery Junior High since its opening in 1964 and Merritt recommended that he move over to run the senior high in 1969. Morris turned over his reins of the Junior High to another London Beck Secondary School colleague, former music teacher Roger Lillie. In future years, both Brown and Merritt reconnected professionally when Charlie Brown was a Director of the Metro School Board and Allen Merritt became the chief negotiator as a Superintendent for the Metro School system from 1977 to 1988. Today, Allen Merritt wanted to inform the community that his comrade, Emery’s first Principal Charlie Brown, passed away last year on November 10, 2014 and he strongly feels that there should be the continuing need for a robust music program at Emery. Many fine and successful musicians have graced the hallways of the school including Emery’s own, Lou Pomanti.
The tradition and reputation of being a Principal at Emery Collegiate Institute carries on to this day with Mrs. Icilda Elliston focusing on giving Emery’s students the best learning experience possible. History now shows that it was Allen Merritt who took on the initial role that set the tone and set the benchmarks for future generations of quality educators at Emery through his formula of relationship-building and strong leadership.
Give me an “E.”