B.C. teacher reprimanded for peculiar off-topic discussions in music class

A B.C. supply teacher who described the crimes of serial killer Robert Pickton in detail for the preteens in his music class has been reprimanded by the provincial regulator.

Tracy Joseph Fairley admitted to several inappropriate discussions while working at a school in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District, where he was a teacher on call, according to a recent consent agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

"The material Fairley discussed with students had nothing to do with the subject matter he was supposed to be teaching," the agreement says.

Fairley agreed that his behaviour amounted to professional misconduct and consented to an official reprimand. He resigned from the district in April 2018, but his teacher's certificate is still valid.

According to the agreement, during a single Grade 6/7 music class on Jan. 8, 2018, Fairley:

• Described a supposed scam where a beautiful woman approached him at a bar and asked him to buy her a drink. Fairley said the drink turned out to be very expensive, and when he said he wasn't paying for it, the bouncer refused to let him leave.
• Told the class about how he watched a teenager get caught in an undertow and die in Hawaii.
• Talked about hitchhiking through Europe as a young man.
• Warned the students that a serial killer might get them if they tried hitchhiking.
• And described how Pickton lured sex workers to his farm to murder them and feed them to his pig.

On the same day, Fairley also told a Grade 5 music class that he wanted to record a video of them playing the marimbas so he could show a friend who is a music producer. As it turns out, he just wanted to show a video to his wife, and he hadn't asked the administration for permission to record the kids.

Fairley has been a teacher since 1984. This is the only disciplinary action on his record with the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.