Public shaming or welcome transparency: the unresolved question of teacher discipline

Would you want to know if a teacher at your child's school had bullied or abused a student?  Probably.

But what if they had borrowed equipment from the school gym? Or how about if they had misused one of their sick days? Smaller stakes to be sure.

However, it turns out these three scenarios are all equally searchable public notifications on the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch website and the black marks on each teaching career are permanent and discoverable with a simple Google search. 

Four years after the site was launched,  it may be time to ask if the spirit of transparency has gone too far. 

Common sense needed

That certainly wasn't the original plan. Back in 2007, facing criticism that the government was looking to publicly shame teachers, then education minister Shirley Bond was clear; only cases involving sexual, physical or emotional abuse would appear on the website of a governing body. 

And George Abbott, the education minister who ushered in B.C.'s new teacher disciplinary process in 2011, says the intent was for smaller disciplinary proceedings to be handled by a principal, or a school district, and for serious matters to be referred to the branch. Now out of politics, Abbott acknowledges in some cases that isn't happening.

"it does rely on people making, often common sense judgments, at different points along the process. Sometimes it does go further down the line than I think a casual observer would think reasonable or appropriate," he said. 

Most of the cases handled by the teacher regulation branch fit the category of student abuse but many do not. And that has left teachers feeling frustrated and anxious, says the B.C. Teachers' Federation.

"It's one thing in the Lower Mainland, but when you are in a smaller community, oftentimes these relatively minor matters are picked up by the local press," says Teri Mooring, BCTF 2nd vice-president. "And in a small community with you know, one newspaper, it can be quite devastating to teachers, that kind of publicity."

Mooring says school districts are often taking a "when in doubt, turn the case over to the branch" approach, rather than leaving minor disciplinary matters to principals, or superintendents. 

And teachers are often so scared of a public hearing, that they opt to sign a consent resolution agreement — a document that puts their name online, but bars them from discussing their version of events publicly — rather than fight the accusations against them.

"The consequence of the hearings being public, is people just want to get it [the investigation process] over with ... and obviously there are concerns about due process with that."

'Difficult to be partially transparent'

The BCTF would like school districts to handle minor disciplinary issues to protect teachers' privacy, and to ease the burden on the branch, which the union says is getting bogged down with too many cases.

It also wants the Ministry of Education to close hearings to the media, and the public, to make teachers more comfortable fighting a charge against them.

That won't sit well with a government that made changes five years ago to deliver more transparency, in the wake of a scathing review that found the process in place at that time was plagued by conflict of interest.

Abbott promised greater transparency then, and the government shows no signs of making changes now.

"The core of the challenge is that it is very difficult to be partially transparent," he said.

Something all too clear to teachers caught for abusing sick leave, and named on the same website as those disciplined for abusing students.