Abbotsford teacher suspended for three days for repeatedly touching students
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2019 05:21:04 +0000
An Abbotsford middle school teacher has been suspended for continuing to touch students despite several warnings.
According to a ruling released on Tuesday by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, James Douglas Klassen was first spoken to informally by his school principal in 2017 about making physical contact with students.
A month later, the principal again warned Klassen, reminding him “that he should keep his hands in his pockets as a complaint had been made that he had made physical contact with a female student.”
In February, 2018, an Abbotsford Police Department school liaison officer approached Klassen and told him to make sure he kept a physical distance from students.
On June 8, 2018, the Abbotsford School District reported Klassen to the commissioner and he was subsequently issued a letter of expectations stating he not have any physical contact with students. The district also recommended he enrol in a professional boundaries course.
The commissioner stated Klassen had made at least three students feel uncomfortable by being touched, although they did not believe the touching was sexual in nature.
As punishment, the commissioner suspended Klassen for three days (Oct. 15, 16 and 17) and ordered that he take the professional boundaries course by a certain date.
In the ruling, the commissioner noted Klassen was warned to stop but didn’t, did not appreciate that he was making the students uncomfortable and lacked insight into his behaviour.
Meanwhile, a B.C. teacher has had their teaching licence revoked after they entered into a sexual relationship with a student six weeks after graduation.
In that case, the commissioner noted the teacher had known the student since Grade 9 and that they had spent a lot of time together.
“The teacher was aware that the student had a crush on him while the student was in high school,” the commissioner wrote. “When the student was in Grade 11, there was an incident in which the teacher had a physical contact with the student which was of a sexually suggestive nature.”
Shortly after the student graduated from Grade 12, the pair contacted each other and the teacher told the student that they loved them.
“The teacher initiated sexual activity,” the commissioner wrote.