A teacher-on-call resigned from the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district after having “inappropriate discussions” with students during class time, according to a Consent Resolution Agreement reached with the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
Tracy Joseph Fairley was teaching a Grade 6/7 music class in the district on Jan. 8, 2018 when he entered into a discussion not related to the curriculum.
He told students about watching a teenager die in an undertow in Hawaii.
He also told them a story about “a bar he went to where a beautiful young woman asked him to buy her a drink. He said the drink turned out to be expensive so he refused to pay for it and when he went to leave a bouncer stopped him. He described the event to the students as a scam or a trick played on drunk, male customers.”
In addition, he told students that “a serial killer could get them if they ever went hitchhiking and they might go missing.”
He told them about the Pickton murders and “described how prostitutes were lured to Pickton’s home, killed and then fed to the pigs.”
He also told them about how he hitchhiked through Europe when he was young.
On the same day, Fairley was also teaching a Grade 5 music class in the district where he made a video of the students playing the marimbas.
According to the teacher commissioner, he told them that he made the video to give to his friend, a music producer, and provide them with copies of it.
Instead, he admitted that he made the recording to show his wife and never had any intention of sharing it with a music producer, misleading the students, and he failed to ask school administrators whether the video recording was permissible.
Fairley was issued a Professional Certificate by the Ministry of Education on Oct. 10, 1984 and was issued a Professional Certificate of Qualification by the B.C. College of Teachers on June 3, 1991.
At all times he was employed as a teacher on call with the local district.
Fairley has admitted to his conduct as described in the agreement and resigned from the district on Apr. 23, 2018. He has agreed not to make any statements, either verbally or in writing that contradicts or disputes the terms or admissions made in the agreement and he acknowledged that it would be published in full.
The commissioner handed down the reprimand after considering that Fairley lacked insight into his conduct, the material he discussed had nothing to do with the subject matter he was supposed to be teaching and that he misled the students about the purpose of the video.
