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B.C. principal suspended for failing to help student who reported inappropriate touching

Principal didn’t remove student from the teacher’s class nor call the parents within a reasonable time
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The incident happened in 2017 and an investigation into the principal’s actions was launched on March of 2018. (Pixabay photo)

A B.C. high school principal has been handed a three-day suspension for failing to properly respond to a student’s report that a teacher inappropriately touched them.

The student reported the incident to the principal at 8:30 a.m. on a weekday morning in 2017, according to a decision made public Tuesday by the BC Teacher’s Regulation Branch.

The name of the principal, who has held a teaching certificate in B.C. since 1985, was not included in the decision documents in order to protect the student’s identity.

The student told the principal they wanted to be pulled from the teacher’s class and call their parents and explain what had happened.

ALSO READ: B.C. teacher suspended after pushing student, telling him he could get ‘aggressive’

But despite knowing that the student was scheduled to be in the teachers class later that day, the principal didn’t immediately remove them from the class and instead doubted the credibility of the disclosure, the documents read.

He also didn’t call the student’s mother until 3:30 p.m. According to the regulation branch, the mom was driving to pick up her child and missed the call, making her unprepared to properly support her child at the end of the school day.

An investigation into the principal’s actions was launched on March of 2018.

The branch said that the principal failed to adequately protect the student from emotional and physical harm and that his judgment of the complaint was impacted by making an assumption about the student’s credibility.


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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