B.C. teacher suspended over reaction to altercation

A B.C. teacher has been suspended for failing to acknowledge the severity of an injury sustained by a student in her class.

According to a report posted by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, Denise Marie Allard was a teacher on call working in the Campbell River School District when the incident occurred on Sept. 21, 2017. It took more than a year for the commissioner to consider the matter, and the seven-day suspension was effective Nov. 26, 2018.

According to an agreed-upon set of facts, Allard was a teacher on call assigned to cover a Grade 10-12 robotics class at a school in the district. While supervising the class, one student held another student in a chokehold, causing that student to lose consciousness. Allard did not see this occur. The injured student approached Allard, told her that he had lost consciousness and that he was hurt, showing her a lump developing on his head.

The student asked to go to the front office to get some ice and was permitted by Allard to do this. She did not contact the front office to say an injured student was coming.

After arriving at the front office, the injured boy was taken to hospital, where it was confirmed he had suffered a concussion.

At the end of the day, Allard left a note for the regular teacher of the robotics class saying “Hi, all went well — thanks — good class — only (student’s name) was absent.”

She was reported to the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation by the district on Sept. 26, 2017 and was removed from its teacher-on-call list on Feb. 9, 2018.

The commissioner determined the suspension was appropriate given the student’s serious injury.