Texts to student’s phone result in reprimand for Catholic teacher

An Edmonton Catholic teacher will receive a written reprimand from the Alberta Teachers’ Association for sending “inappropriate text messages” to the phone of a male student who attended a different school than where she taught, a conduct committee ruled Friday.

While no information about the text messages was presented at the Friday conduct hearing, the accused teacher said in an interview Friday the charge stems from a tussle she had with the student’s mother, who was using her son’s phone.

“I cried my eyes out when I read that,” teacher Edwina Schwede said about when she first saw charges laid against her by the teachers’ association. “I am absolutely sick about this.”

The association charged Schwede with two counts of unprofessional conduct, including failing to treat the student with dignity and respect and to be considerate of his circumstances, and failing to act in a manner which maintains the honour and dignity of the teaching profession.

“It’s essential that protecting the honour and dignity of the profession be maintained in this situation,” association presenting officer Elissa Corsi told the hearing panel, after submitting documents in which the teacher admitted to acting unprofessionally.

Schwede, who did not attend Friday’s hearing, pleaded guilty in writing to both counts of unprofessional conduct for text messages she sent on Feb. 20, 2017.

Schwede was listed as a staff member at John Paul I Catholic elementary school during the 2016-17 school year in a welcome letter posted online.

All evidence in the case was submitted to the conduct committee in writing at a public hearing Friday. Members of the public who attend these hearings are not allowed to see any of the paperwork submitted to the committee. The association refused a request to disclose the messages.

Schwede said the charges arose from an exchange with a woman she hired to clean her home when she was moving out. The woman didn’t have a phone, and was using

her son’s mobile phone to communicate with Schwede, she said.

When Schwede told the woman to leave her property before finishing the job, the cleaner swore at the teacher and called her “peglegged.” Schwede has an artificial limb.

Schwede wrote back that she’d rather have no leg than no brain, and shut off her phone in frustration, she said.

Although she regrets her response, she said the messages were taken out of context.

“They’re snapshots and, sometimes, they can be very damaging,” she said.

Schwede has since retired after a 30-year career, but works occasionally as a substitute teacher for Edmonton Catholic schools.

Teachers’ association spokeswoman Laura Harris said more official information about Schwede’s actions may be available in a written report. The Teaching Profession Act says a committee must submit a written report about every decision within 60 days, and

that those reports “must be available to the public on request and free of charge.”

However, the association has refused to release written reports on disciplinary decisions for at least two months. Reports from four other teacher-conduct cases heard in 2017 — including the case of a former Calgary principal accused of fraud and keeping a school full of animals — have yet to be released.

In a Friday email, teachers’ association executive director Gordon Thomas said he opted to pause on releasing decisions when solicitors flagged potential issues with the decisions that “caused some alarm.” The lawyers flagged possible privacy violations, and some cases of incomplete factual details, as problems the association should fix, Thomas said.

“So we are currently at the point of applying these recommendations to our practices. We will try to expedite this so the reports from the fall are available as quickly as possible,” Thomas said.