Two teachers disciplined for humiliating students

Educators humiliated, belittled students; minister urged to revoke certifications

The Alberta Teachers’ Association recommended the education minister remove two men’s teaching certificates for humiliating students and making inappropriate comments, say two disciplinary decisions released on Tuesday.

An Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) conduct committee last year stripped teacher David A. Wilson of his association membership for life, and recommended the education minister cancel his teaching certificate after he summoned a group of elementary school students to vote on whether they thought one of their classmates was a girl or a boy.

The committee found Wilson guilty of six counts of unprofessional conduct for transgressions at two unnamed schools, where he also told Hutterite students they were too fat, bossy and ugly to get married, and forced a 13-year-old girl to skip rope in front of the class while he stared at her chest.

In a separate case, an ATA disciplinary committee declared St. Albert teacher Steven Peter James Krahn ineligible for ATA membership for one year, and asked the education minister to suspend his teaching certificate for one year. The committee found he mocked a junior high student in front of his classmates, making fun of his genitalia, among other transgressions.

Revoking a teacher’s ATA membership prevents them from teaching in public, Catholic or francophone schools, but they can still work in private or First Nationrun schools. Krahn was working at an unnamed private school at the time of his October 2017 hearing.

Its unknown whether either teacher was decertified. The education minister won’t confirm whether he acted on the ATA’s recommendations.

GIRL WAS SHATTERED BY WILSON’S ACTIONS

Wilson worked as a substitute teacher in an unnamed Alberta school division during 2015 and 2016 when his behaviour prompted two separate complaints.

In a 2017 hearing in Edmonton, 10 students, six school division employees, and two parents testified about how his actions affected students. The committee said Wilson had “many years” of teaching experience.

On Jan. 15, 2015, Wilson was a substitute teacher for eight students at an unnamed Hutterite colony school. Witnesses said Wilson told some of the students they weren’t suitable for marriage, talked loudly on his phone during class time about a possible sale of guns, and belittled a student by telling her classmates to hit her in the head with a shovel if she was annoying, dig a hole and bury her in it.

Students also wrote in their journals and testified they felt uncomfortable when the teacher forced a 13-year-old girl to skip and hula hoop in front of the class while the teacher stared at her chest.

Staff said his behaviour was deeply upsetting to students. The committee concluded he was disrespectful of their culture.

While substitute teaching at a different school in April 2016, Wilson told a group of students crossing the street by the school, “You boys better be careful.”

When a student pointed out one of the children was a girl, not a boy, Wilson asked the sixth-grade student if she was sure, then asked if she was transgender. Witnesses said he then called over a group of other students and polled them about her gender identity.

Earlier that day, Wilson had asked another student, unprompted, if her father was black.

A school counsellor testified the girl whose gender identity Wilson questioned was “forced to confront issues of her gender expression long before she was ready ...”

The counsellor said the student became withdrawn and fearful, and her parents said she could no longer go to bed alone and will not use public washrooms unless she is with another female.

“Everything about her was shattered,” her father testified.

The committee concluded Wilson’s actions “turned the life of that child upside down. His blatant disrespect for basic human dignity profoundly affected the student, her family, the school and the community.”

Wilson could not be reached for comment.

ST. ALBERT TEACHER RIDICULED STUDENT

A separate disciplinary committee found St. Albert Catholic teacher Krahn guilty of three counts of unprofessional conduct after he “repeatedly teased and ridiculed” a junior high student about his genitalia.

In November 2017, the committee recommended the education minister suspend his teaching certificate for one year.

The committee also found Krahn called the Caribbean Islands the “Giggly Islands,” referring to Indigenous inhabitants who are topless, and by teasing students about their dating lives and disclosing crushes. He also told a student with a cold sore he must have received a poor mark because of his “herpes.”

Krahn also called the school principal “bitchy” in a Facebook post. Krahn went on medical leave from work in the spring of 2014.

In an email, Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools superintendent David Keohane said Krahn was no longer employed in the district.

“The profession and the public expect teachers to ensure that students feel comfortable and safe in their learning environment by treating them with dignity and respect,” the decision said. “Through his actions, Krahn repeatedly failed to do so.”

Krahn could not be reached for comment. Neither man attended the disciplinary hearings.

The profession and the public expect teachers to ensure that students feel comfortable and safe in their learning environment by treating them with dignity and respect.