At St. Michael’s Choir School, a semi-private institution in downtown Toronto with fewer than 300 students, a typical parent council meeting may draw 15 to 20 attendees. But on Sept. 24, just three weeks into the academic year, nearly 40 parents streamed into the school’s brick building, which overlooks the imposing Catholic basilica across the street, to attend the first council meeting of the term.
So many people showed up that the gathering had to be relocated from a classroom into the cafeteria. What followed was a tense — and at times confrontational — assembly.
Parents grilled the school’s executive director, Geoffrey Rawlinson. Many wanted a formal town hall with school and church leaders to address what they saw as instability at the school and glaring staff shortages, according to three individuals in attendance. Rawlinson did not commit to hosting a town hall and sidestepped many of the questions, the three people said.
The Sept. 24 meeting marked a flashpoint for the tight-knit community at St. Michael’s, one of the world’s most prestigious all-boys choral academies. It occurred as the school has been roiled by internal turmoil and a slew of high-profile departures over the past two years that have now led to a third-party review.
At the centre of the tension is Rawlinson, who multiple current and former staff, along with parents of current students, said has fostered a toxic workplace environment, engaged in bullying and inappropriate behaviour, and let the school’s prestigious choral program flounder under his watch.
Over two months, the Star spoke with five parents, along with six current and former staff, who discussed the environment at the school under Rawlinson’s tenure. The staff were granted anonymity so they could talk freely without violating the terms of their confidentiality agreements, which they signed when they were hired and which require them to maintain confidentiality “in perpetuity.” The parents were also granted anonymity out of fear of reprisal against their children.
Geoffrey Rawlinson, the executive director of the St. Michael’s Choir School.
Over the past two years, at least five of these individuals who spoke with the Star reached out to the Archdiocese of Toronto, which oversees the school’s choral institute, to express concern about Rawlinson’s leadership and the school’s direction. They said that despite meeting with church leaders and sending letters outlining their concerns, the archdiocese has either not responded or failed to adequately respond to their complaints.
“It was like a graveyard in there. Morale was really, really, really low,” said one former staff member, describing their time working under Rawlinson.
St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica is seen reflected in the window of St. Michael’s Choir School in downtown Toronto.
Nick Lachance/Toronto Star
Edwin Gonsalves, the rector of the St. Michael’s Cathedral Basilica, to whom Rawlinson reports, said in a statement to the Star on Thursday that the archdiocese has “engaged an independent party” to review the concerns and provide recommendations. “Mr. Rawlinson supports this process and shares our commitment to a respectful, supportive and collaborative environment for all,” he added.
When asked by the Star, the archdiocese did not identify the firm it has retained, nor the scope of the review. “We anticipate that the review will begin shortly,” a spokesperson said.
Rawlinson did not respond separately to the allegations. He told the Star that he would let the rector’s comments stand as his response.
St. Michael’s, which was established in 1937 as an elementary school for the choirboys at the adjacent Catholic cathedral of the same name, has a unique administrative structure. The academy, which now runs from Grades 3 to 12, is jointly managed by the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Toronto Catholic District School Board. The former, represented by the executive director, manages the choral institute, which has more than two dozen staff, while the public school board oversees the academic programming.
The St. Michael’s Choir School is considered one of the world’s most prestigious all-boys choir schools.
Nick Lachance/Toronto Star
The music staff at the choral institute are non-unionized and have fewer protections compared to their colleagues on the academic side, who work for the public school board.
Rawlinson, an alumnus of St. Michael’s who graduated in 1991, went on to work in finance. He stepped into the role of executive director in May 2024. Concerns about his conduct started just weeks into his tenure, according to six current and former staff who spoke with the Star.
Those who spoke with the Star said Rawlinson would yell at employees, sometimes in front of students. “There was constant threatening,” said one former staff member. “He would say, ‘Anybody can do your job. If you don’t want to do it this way, I’ll just get somebody else to do it.’ That was a threat that happened on a regular basis.”
The six current and former staff said that Rawlinson unilaterally reversed audition decisions made by choral staff and admitted students who weren’t qualified to join the program. The executive director, they said, would also overrule his staff’s decisions pertaining to end-of-year scholarships and awards, which was not done by previous executive directors.
The six current and former staff who worked under Rawlinson described him as a micromanager. Shortly after he joined the school, staff said they were no longer allowed to co-ordinate the music programming with their colleagues at the cathedral, where the school choirs perform each week for mass. They said Rawlinson wanted conductors to vet all music with him.
Gonsalves did not directly respond to the allegations of Rawlinson’s micromanagement, but said that “a number of procedures at the choir school have changed over the past three years at the request of, or with the support of, the cathedral and the archdiocese. For example, the cathedral now provides greater direction on hymn selection for masses and special liturgies. We also determined that communication about these matters should take place between the cathedral rector and the executive director to provide consistency and maintain a clear focus on the liturgy.”
Geoffrey Rawlinson, an alumnus of the school, was appointed as executive director of St. Michael’s Choir School in 2024.
Nick Lachance/Toronto Star
By the end of the 2024-25 school year, two of the school’s top conductors abruptly resigned. A third, who had been on leave, did not return. Publicly, the school said their departures were due to personal or professional reasons. The Star has learned all three departed in part due to their concerns with Rawlinson’s leadership and the direction of the school.
A fourth high-profile departure occurred this September, at the start of the current school year, when the school’s organist and organ instructor, who was on parental leave, did not return, the Star has also learned.
“I recognize that a number of staff members have departed in recent months and that these transitions can be difficult for the school community,” Gonsalves said in his statement. “When a staff member resigns or takes medical leave, however, the community must respect their privacy. There can be many factors involved, and it would be unfair to presume the reasons for any individual’s departure.”
Staff and parents said they have reached out to the Archdiocese of Toronto since 2025 to voice their concerns. But they said that the church did not take concrete actions to address the issues raised in their letters. (Gonsalves announced the third-party review after the Star reached out to the archdiocese outlining the allegations.)
The Star has reviewed five separate letters written by staff and parents. Some were addressed to Gonsalves while others were addressed to his predecessor, Frank Portelli, who oversaw operations of the choral school. Multiple letter writers raised concern about Rawlinson’s behaviour, claiming that he yelled and harassed staff. Others said that they felt the quality of the students’ education was declining, with the choristers receiving fewer opportunities to perform and fewer instructional hours.
Two current staff members said that the hiring process employed by Rawlinson for a senior music position was rushed and cursory, carried out by a two-person panel that included Rawlinson, who doesn’t have a background in music education, they said. They added that whereas previous candidates applying for conducting positions were required to lead one of the school’s choirs on a trial basis, to see how well they worked with the students, that requirement was scrapped under Rawlinson’s tenure.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Rawlinson graduated from McMaster University with a degree in finance and worked at Scotiabank for 16 years. He did not answer the Star’s question about whether he has any post-secondary education in music, music education or education.
St. Michael’s Choir School has a population of fewer than 300 students.
Nick Lachance/Toronto Star
St. Michael’s has struggled financially in recent years. According to public records available through the Canada Revenue Agency, the school has run deficits in the three most recent fiscal years for which reports are publicly available, including a more than $350,000 deficit in the fiscal year ending in 2025. Earlier this year, the St. Michael’s Choir School Foundation, an entity established to help raise funds for the school, had its charity status revoked due to a failure to file its financial statements.
In a statement, the archdiocese confirmed that the school has run deficits in the three most recent years. It said the increase in the deficit in 2025 was “largely driven by security costs assumed by the school.” The archdiocese added that it purposefully let the foundation’s charity status lapse earlier this year. “It had been dormant for many years, given the fundraising initiatives for the school were being assumed by the St. Michael’s Choir School legal entity itself,” it said, noting that Rawlinson did not oversee the foundation. “Having a separate legal structure, which required separate reporting and governance requirements, was determined to be inefficient and redundant.”
Parents who spoke with the Star said the high staff turnover and turmoil behind the scenes has affected their children’s education and fostered low morale among the students. Many of the choristers, they said, know that they aren’t reaching their potential. “The students in Grade 10 and up can tell for sure,” said one parent. “They know exactly that they’re not supposed to sound that way.”
Another parent said her son feels sad, disillusioned and demoralized. “This is a source of vocation for the boys,” she said. “But when you make it a fraudulent experience for them, you’re not fostering that sense of vocation.” She recalled what her son recently said to her about the sentiment among him and his peers: “We all cringe because we know that we’re no longer performing our duty the way we should be. And we’re all supposed to pretend that this is fine.”