B.C.’s Commissioner for Teacher Regulation has suspended a high school principal for three days for failing to tell a mother her child had complained of inappropriate touching by another teacher.
A commissioner’s consent resolution report released Oct. 15 said the student also told the principal at about 8:30 a.m. one day that they did not wish to be in the teacher’s class and that the principal should tell the student’s parents.
The report said the principal knew the student was due in the teacher’s class later in the day but did not remove them. The principal said they doubted the student’s credibility, the report said.
The principal waited until 3:30 p.m. that day to try and contact the parents.
“As the mother was on her way to the school to pick up her children, she missed the call,” the report said. “Consequently, the mother was not prepared to properly support Student A at the end of the school day.”
The commissioner justified the suspension saying the principal failed to adequately protect the student from physical and emotional harm and made an assumption on the student’s credibility, which impacted his judgment of the situation.
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