A slap on the wrist for B.C. teachers

Re: B.C. teachers suspended over camp hijinks, Sept. 3

Surely there is a misprint on the B.C. teachers only being suspended for one to two days; being made to take a “respectful professional boundaries” course and having their Teachers Act agreement made public when they and their associates facilitated innocent, perhaps fragile, students to lick a teacher’s bare foot; chew gum that had been chewed by another person; and drink water that had been spit in by four other people — all performed in a public forum called “camp”!

As one who has a doctor of education degree, mediator and arbitrator credentials and who has, for years, taught at a university, I am astounded the educational governing bodies have not done all possible to fire these people!

Where have these individuals, the perpetrators and their leaders, been on widely discussed issues of personal and professional leadership? Is their head in the sand on the delicate state many young people are in today? How can they possibly justify their behaviour as a role model? These people set the stage for students to be bullied, harassed, coerced, demeaned, disrespected and potentially experience future health challenges. They also exposed the school board and others to possible lawsuits.

For all of that disgraceful behaviour, all they received was a slap on the wrist. June A. Donaldson, Calgary