Yasmin Nizami

The Ontario College of Teachers brought disciplinary proceedings against a member for alleged sexual abuse and professional misconduct after a student stayed at his home and shared his bed.

The Discipline Committee found the student's testimony regarding sexual abuse to be inconsistent and unreliable, while the member's testimony was credible.

The Committee dismissed the allegations of sexual abuse.

However, the Committee found the member guilty of professional misconduct for failing to maintain professional boundaries by sharing a bed with the student, which contravened the standards of the profession.

The member was reprimanded and ordered to complete a course on professional boundaries.

The Ontario College of Teachers alleged that the Member, a Native studies teacher, sexually abused a student who stayed overnight at his home and engaged in professional misconduct by allowing the student to sleep in his bed.

The Discipline Committee found the student's testimony regarding sexual abuse lacked credibility and dismissed those allegations.

However, the Committee found that the Member committed professional misconduct by failing to maintain professional boundaries and standards, as allowing a visiting student to share his bed was inappropriate and contrary to societal norms.

The Member was reprimanded and ordered to complete a course on boundary violations.

The Ontario College of Teachers brought allegations of professional misconduct against the Member, a secondary school teacher, based on several incidents including an alleged hallway assault on an educational resource worker, a parking lot incident, an inappropriate exchange with a new teacher, and an alleged threat to a student.

After a full hearing, the Discipline Committee found that the College failed to prove the allegations on a balance of probabilities.

The Committee found the College's witnesses lacked credibility and that the incidents were either accidental, trivial, or unsupported by reliable evidence.

The allegations were dismissed in their entirety.

The Ontario College of Teachers alleged that the Member was incompetent based on two unsatisfactory performance appraisals conducted over a four-month period.

The parties submitted an Agreed Statement of Facts and a joint submission on penalty.

The Discipline Committee dismissed the allegation, finding that unsatisfactory performance appraisals alone, without corroborating evidence such as lesson plans or student evaluations, were insufficient to prove incompetence under the Act.

The moving party, a physician under investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons, brought a motion to stay a stated case application initiated by the College pending the outcome of his separate application challenging the constitutionality of the College's investigative summons power.

The stated case application sought to compel the Chief of Police to comply with a summons for a Crown brief related to stayed criminal charges against the physician.

The court dismissed the motion for a stay, finding that the balance of convenience favoured allowing the College to proceed with its investigation in the public interest.

However, the court granted the physician leave to intervene as an added party in the stated case application on consent.

The member pleaded no contest to allegations of professional misconduct involving inappropriate physical contact and verbal comments toward students.

The Discipline Committee found the member guilty of professional misconduct for failing to maintain the standards of the profession, physical abuse, and conduct unbecoming a member.

The Committee ordered a reprimand, completion of a course on appropriate boundaries, and publication of the decision in summary form without the member's name.

The member, a Grade 8 teacher, pleaded no contest to allegations of professional misconduct.

The member had used a storage cupboard as a disciplinary strategy, isolating students, and distributed a math assignment containing offensive questions referencing criminal activities and sexual content.

The Discipline Committee accepted the agreed statement of facts and found the member guilty of professional misconduct.

The Committee ordered a reprimand, the completion of a professional ethics course, and publication of the decision in summary form without the member's name.

The member pleaded no contest to allegations of professional misconduct, including using inappropriate language, making negative and racialized comments, and making inappropriate physical contact with students.

The Discipline Committee found the member guilty of professional misconduct.

The penalty included a reprimand, a requirement to complete a course on appropriate boundaries, and publication of the summary without the member's name.

The member, an occasional teacher, pleaded no contest to allegations of professional misconduct for inappropriately touching students on multiple occasions while attempting to redirect them, despite previous warnings and a classroom management course.

The Discipline Committee accepted the joint submission on penalty, ordering a reprimand, completion of a course on appropriate boundaries, and publication of the decision with the member's name.

The Member, an occasional teacher, faced allegations of professional misconduct including making inappropriate remarks to students, failing to provide adequate supervision, and disciplining a student by making him sit outside in the cold without a coat.

The Member pled no contest to failing to maintain the standards of the profession.

The Discipline Committee accepted the joint submission on penalty, ordering an admonishment and the completion of a course in student discipline techniques.

The Committee exercised its discretion to order publication of the decision without the Member's name, noting the conduct was relatively minor and there was no evidence of further misconduct.

The member faced allegations of professional misconduct and incompetence.

The College withdrew the professional misconduct allegations and proceeded on incompetence.

Based on an Agreed Statement of Facts and a plea of no contest, the Discipline Committee found the member incompetent due to repeated unsatisfactory performance appraisals and failure to improve classroom management skills.

The Committee accepted a joint submission on penalty, imposing terms, conditions, and limitations on the member's certificate, including requirements for a classroom management course and subsequent performance appraisals.

The Member, a high school teacher, was found guilty of professional misconduct following his criminal convictions for multiple counts of indecent assault against male minors.

The Discipline Committee accepted the criminal convictions as proof of the misconduct.

Given the serious nature of the offences, which involved premeditation, threats of violence, and a gross abuse of trust, the Committee ordered the immediate revocation of the Member's certificate of qualification and registration.

Counsel for the College brought a motion seeking leave to withdraw the allegations of professional misconduct against the member set out in the Notice of Hearing.

The member was not in attendance but consented to the withdrawal.

Pursuant to section 4.1 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, the Discipline Committee granted the motion and authorized the College to withdraw the allegations.

The Ontario College of Teachers brought a motion seeking leave to withdraw the allegations of professional misconduct against the member.

With the consent of the parties and pursuant to section 4.1 of the Statutory Powers Procedure Act, the Discipline Committee authorized the withdrawal of the allegations without a hearing.

The Member faced allegations of professional misconduct for acting inappropriately towards female students, including asking them to try on sports clothing and a bathing suit in his office bathroom, inadvertently taking a digital photograph of a student, disregarding a principal's directive not to be alone with female students, and viewing nude photographs on a school computer.

The Member pleaded no contest to the allegations.

The Discipline Committee accepted the joint submission on penalty, ordering a reprimand, a three-month suspension of his teaching certificate, completion of a boundary course before returning to teaching, and publication of the decision.