Teacher ties boys together, aunt goes to court

VANCOUVER — The great-aunt of a boy who spent a school day tied at the ankle to another student is going to court in a bid to overturn a decision by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation to take no action against the teacher.

The boy — who was eight at the time and in Grade 2 at the Capilano Little Ones School in West Vancouver — had his ankle tied to another boy with a strip of T-shirt material, three-legged race style, after the two boys had been misbehaving together, according to court documents.

A teacher of the boy at the First Nation school had consulted with her superior and a decision had been made to keep the boys tied together all day, on May 13, 2015, as a different approach to helping them learn to resolve conflict appropriately, the documents say.

The boys remained tied together for much of the day, including at lunch hour, and at lunch were told by school staff not to use the playground equipment such as swings and the slide.

No harm came to the children, but some staff were uncomfortable with the situation and contacted the head of the Squamish Nation Education Department, which later in the day directed that the boys be untied.

Jo-Ann Nahanee, the grandaunt of the boy, says in her petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court that she learned of the unusual situation at a June 7, 2015, meeting of the Squamish Nation, of which she is a member.

In a decision in the case that was released March 17, Bruce Preston, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, said that the use of the three-legged strategy was “flawed” and the students were not treated with appropriate dignity and respect.

But Preston, a retired B.C. Supreme Court judge, said he had decided to take no further action because there was “no reasonable prospect” that a hearing panel would find Michell’s conduct was a marked departure that constitutes professional misconduct.

Nahanee’s petition seeks an order quashing Preston’s decision and sending it back to the commissioner with directions to review the matter.