Ontario’s education minister is expressing concern after Toronto Catholic trustee Michael Del Grande was accused of haranguing and harassing a 16-year-old female student trustee.

“We hope the board will undertake a fulsome investigation, which we believe is appropriate to ensure students are respected in the (Toronto Catholic board) by their public servants,” Stephen Lecce’s office told the Star on Tuesday.

His comments came after Mayor John Tory scolded Del Grande — a former city hall budget chief — for the alleged incidents Tory called “dinosaur-like,” insensitive and beneath elected officials.

As the Star revealed Tuesday, the Toronto Catholic District School Board has hired a lawyer to look into allegations that Del Grande, Ward 7 trustee (Scarborough-North York), berated and intimidated student trustee Taylor Dallin in the board’s lounge after a September meeting where the potential screening of the anti-abortion film “Unplanned” for all high school students was discussed.

Dallin, now 17, had suggested students be involved in the decision given the controversy over the movie’s accuracy.

Afterwards, Del Grande is alleged to have approached her, and questioned her in “an extremely unfriendly and accusatory tone” about her views on abortion and her commitment to being a Catholic trustee because of her progressive views.

Del Grande, she said, “was yelling at me for the majority of the conversation. To be completely honest, I felt scared and helpless ... I tried multiple times to leave the room, but I couldn’t because he kept talking at me.”

When she burst into tears, he gave her a “perfunctory apology” and left, she alleges.

The board has since put a safety plan for her into place.

Del Grande has also come under fire for his commentary on social conservative website LifeSiteNews.com, where he defended an earlier motion he put forward connecting gender issues to bestiality and pedophilia, saying he won’t back down from “evil.”

Ward 2 (Etobicoke) Trustee Markus de Domenico said the board has agreed to hold a special meeting Monday, called at his request with support from five colleagues, to “address the public comments of Trustee Del Grande.”

Del Grande could not be reached for comment, though he has previously told the Star he cannot speak about the investigation, on the advice of lawyers.

Mayor Tory, when asked Tuesday about the alleged conduct, said “all of these episodes are dinosaur-like in the context of how people seem to have been treated. You just can’t have situations in public life (that) seem to be suggesting that people in other groups, that are fellow citizens here in Toronto, are evil as opposed to good.”

Tory said such conduct “ is just not something that is contributing to anything that is positive for somebody like me who is trying to bring this city together and cause us all to focus on, yes, on the differences we have, but celebrate that as a source of strength and learning. To see this kind of polarizing, inconsiderate, insensitive, approach, to me is just not what is expected of people in positions in public life.”

NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles said “Mr. Del Grande needs to resign — that’s the right thing to do.”

Students “should have an equal voice at the boardroom table,” added Stiles, a former Toronto public school board trustee.

“To berate them or belittle them is exactly the opposite direction of what most trustees I know have taken, which is to support and to try and amplify the voice of student trustees. That’s what they are there for.”

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De Domenico said that at Monday’s meeting, “I’d like the board to ask Trustee Del Grande to withdraw those statements (on LifeSiteNews.com), apologize and repudiate the impressions that he’s given staff, student, families and trustees.”

Del Grande, he added, “should acknowledge the comments are improper and hurtful to the community. I believe the board has been put in a very poor light. The majority of trustees voted to move progressively forward on the code of conduct. These comments from a minority group (of trustees) don’t represent the views of the vast majority of students and families in our board.”

De Domenico said he is asking the board to hold the meeting in open session and not to move the discussion behind closed doors.

David Rider is the Star’s City Hall bureau chief and a reporter covering city hall and municipal politics. Follow him on Twitter: @dmrider

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