Lap-dance teachers now unemployed

Two Winnipeg teachers are out of work after performing a simulated lap dance during a school-sanctioned event.

Gym teacher Chrystie Fitchner and math teacher Adiel Ahmed learned their fate following a meeting of trustees with the Winnipeg School Division on Monday. 

In a statement, a division spokesperson said Fitchner resigned Monday, with the resignation to take effect at the end of June.

In the interim, she will be away from the classroom on sick leave under the terms of the collective agreement teachers have with the division. She was suspended without pay on March 3, but has been receiving sick benefits, the division said.

Ahmed, who had been working with the board on a contractual basis, will not have his contract renewed. His contract expired Friday. He had been suspended from teaching without pay since March 2, the division said.

Monday's decision brings to an end months of speculation about how the division would respond to the Churchill High School spirit week incident, which students described as being like "sex on the dance floor."

'I think we live in a world of YouTube ... anybody can have a camera at any time and take pictures and it'll end up on YouTube. This is the 21st century and this is part of it, I guess.' —Winnipeg School Division trustee Jackie Sneesby

Millions around the world have seen a minute-long video of the teachers' mid-February performance after it was posted on YouTube and other internet sites.

The teachers can be seen grinding against each other while Fitchner sits in a chair placed in the middle of the gym floor. At one point, Ahmed simulates oral sex by bobbing his head several times near her genitals.

In a statement released Monday, the division described the performance as an "inappropriate dance."

Cameras now everywhere: trustee

"This issue has been tough on everyone," said division chairwoman Jackie Sneesby.

"Churchill is an excellent school … I hope that everyone will continue to support the Churchill community as it moves forward from this unfortunate experience," Sneesby said.

"I don't know why they did this," she said in a Monday interview following the division's meeting. "Usually it's because they didn't think about the outcome or what the consequences would be."

But she said there's a lesson to be learned. "I think we live in a world of YouTube. Everywhere you go and whatever you do, whether you're a celebrity or in this case even if you're not a celebrity, anybody can have a camera at any time and take pictures and it'll end up on YouTube. This is the 21st century and this is part of it, I guess."

However, Sneesby added that even if the dance had not been caught on video, she's convinced Fitchner and Ahmed would have still been in trouble. The school division received a lot of phone calls demanding they be fired, she said.