A B.C. high school teacher is banned from the classroom for two months after an investigation found he overstepped professional boundaries with numerous students.
The man’s name, as well as where he teaches, are not disclosed in the consent agreement published by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation on Tuesday (Oct. 18). This, the commissioner says, is to protect the identities of the students involved.
What is known is that the man has been teaching in B.C. since November 2016, and that during the 2019-2020 school year he regularly communicated with high school students in an inappropriate manner.
In multiple instances, the commissioner found, the man contacted students over social media and made inappropriate comments to them. He also told those students to keep their communication secret.
On other occassions, the teacher met students alone inside his office with the door shut, to discuss personal issues that were upsetting them. Several times, the teacher placed his hand on a student’s hand, knee or thigh, according to the consent agreement.
“The teacher was aware from these discussions that some of the students had significant personal issues, but he did not direct any of them to a school counsellor nor advise a school counsellor or administration about his discussions with any of these students,” the agreement reads.
The school district suspended the man for 15 days and required him to undergo education on professional boundaries. Since then, he has furthered agreed to the commissioner’s two-month suspension.
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