A former Greater Victoria school district teacher who had inappropriate communication with a student and was convicted of child pornography possession has received a lifetime teaching ban.
Travis Curry Mitchell, a former elementary school teacher, officially received the discipline last month stemming from a 2020 incident.
Police received a report in June 2020 about inappropriate communication between Mitchell and a minor, a decision by B.C.’s teacher regulation commissioner states. It goes on to say he was also in a position of trust to the minor “related to a role outside of the teaching profession.” The decision was released publically on Tuesday (Aug. 9).
Mitchell was arrested on June 9, 2020, and child pornography was found on his cell phone and laptop at that time. He pleaded guilty to one count of child pornography possession in April 2021 and was sentenced last October to an 18-month conditional sentence, plus one year of probation.
He also received conditions that barred him from contact or communication with anyone under the age of 16, along with being on the National Sex Offender Registry for 10 years.
Mitchell got his teaching certification in January 2018 and it was cancelled last November due to non-payment of fees, the decision states. SD61 filed a report with the teacher regulation branch three days after Mitchell’s arrest. The commissioner’s decision, effective as of July 26, states Mitchell agrees he will never apply for, and that he understands he will never be issued, a K-12 teaching certification.
In deeming that a lifetime ban was an appropriate consequence, the decision states the commissioner considered how Mitchell was convicted for the exploitation of minors for sexual advantage, that he failed to maintain appropriate boundaries with a minor and his conduct was at “the serious end of the spectrum and had to the potential to undermine the public’s confidence in the teaching profession.”
READ: Former Greater Victoria woodshop teacher disciplined for injuries in his class
jake.romphf@blackpress.ca. Follow us on Instagram.
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
