B.C. middle-school teacher banned for life after pleading guilty to assault

A B.C. middle-school teacher has been banned for life after two inappropriate incidents with students, the second of which ended up with him pleading guilty to a criminal charge of assault.

In the first, the teacher responded inappropriately to a student’s threat of self-harm. After that misstep in October 2019, he was issued a formal letter of reprimand and ordered to do course work.

That same month, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation was informed by the district that the teacher had been involved in another incident with a different student.

In a consent resolution agreement posted on Tuesday, the teacher agreed he invited a student into his office, where he pulled the student onto his lap “and had inappropriate physical contact.”

A year later, the commissioner learned he had pleaded guilty to assault and been sentenced. Because of the criminal proceeding, there is a publication ban on the teacher’s name to preserve the student’s privacy.