BC teacher banned for 15 years after starting sexual relationship with ex-student 5 months after graduation

A BC teacher has been barred from teaching for 15 years after he began a sexual relationship with a former student.

The relationship started within five months of the student’s graduation, according to a disciplinary report published by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation on Oct. 12.

The teacher also began an “inappropriate personal relationship” with a current student who had “personal challenges.”

That student, who was 16 years old, spent the night alone with the teacher at his home “on a number of occasions.”

The teacher’s name, where he taught, the school district that employed him and any other information that could lead to the students’ identities being revealed have been kept out of the report.

According to the Commissioner, the teacher taught Student A – with whom he had a sexual relationship – in Grade 12.

The report explains that the teacher continued to communicate with his former student after the student's graduation in June (of an unspecified year).

By November, he had begun a sexual relationship with Student A.

Separately, the teacher admitted entering into a personal relationship with Student B.

The report states: “The Teacher and Student B spoke together by phone in the evenings on many occasions and communicated by text.

“The Teacher brought Student B to his home on a number of occasions, where he spent time alone with Student B, including from late at night until early in the morning.”

He was suspended from his district in April 2018.

In May, he agreed that he wouldn’t teach K–12 until the case was resolved.

In February 2019, however, he resigned from the district.

At a later date – which has not been published by the Commissioner – the teacher agreed that his actions constituted professional misconduct.

He also accepted a ban on his ability to obtain a teaching certificate in the province for 15 years.