A B.C. vice-principal has lost his teaching certificate and can’t apply for another one for five years following inappropriate text messages and an inappropriate sexual relationship. (Pixabay)
A former British Columbia vice principal who sent inappropriate text messages to students and exploited a former student for his sexual advantage has lost his teaching certificate and will not be able to apply for another one for five years.
According to a British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation consent resolution agreement summary, the vice-principal entered into a text message group with two students in 2016 and exchanged text messages during and outside school hours.
“These text messages included inappropriate and unprofessional content, including profanity and drinking alcohol,” the document states.
“These text messages continued after the two students graduate, although on a less frequent basis.”
The summary of the consent resolution also states the vice-principal engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of the two students that same year. The student had recently graduated.
“On one occasion, the teacher supplied alcohol to the student, who to his knowledge was a minor, before engaging in sexual activity with the student. The teacher exploited the student for his sexual advantage,” the document reads.
According to the summary, the teacher held a professional certificate of qualification, which was issued by the B.C. College of Teachers in 1995. At the time of the incidents, he was employed as vice-principal at a B.C. school.
On March 3, the school’s district superintendent advised the commissioner the vice-principal was placed on administrative leave. The vice-principal signed an undertaking not to teach in the kindergarten to Grade 12 education system in the province on March 26, 2017. He resigned from the district on April 30, 2017.
On February 20, 2019, the former vice-principal entered into a consent resolution agreement with the commissioner. He agreed his conduct constituted “professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming and is contrary to Standards #1 and #2 of the Standards/or the Education, Competence and Professional Conduct of Educators in British Columbia, Fourth Edition, January 2012.”
The former vice-principal agreed that his teaching qualification certficate would be cancelled and he could not apply for a certificate of qualification, an independent school teaching certificate or a letter of permission for a period of five years.
The Commissioner for Teacher Regulation has not named the vice-principal, the students or the school where the vice-principal worked due to internal policies.
Alexa Huffman
