Teacher ordered to pay $10K after tossing marker at student
Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board hands down 1st decision
A Saskatchewan teacher has been reprimanded and ordered to pay $10,000 in the first case heard by the province's new regulatory board.
The self-governing Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board was introduced in 2015 to be responsible for teacher certification and discipline.
A decision dated Jan. 10 is identified as the first discipline hearing before the board. It's in regards to an incident that took place on Nov. 10, 2015.
The teacher who was the subject of the complaint, Michel Andre Joseph Levesque, admitted to tossing a white board marker at students who were being disruptive in his Grade 9 practical and applied arts class.
The marker, however, struck a girl sitting in front of the disruptive students, leaving what the decision refers to as a "welt" above her right eye.
"Shocked and distressed as to what had happened, I stopped class immediately and apologized to the student in front of the entire class. I also addressed the entire class of students to acknowledge that this was not an appropriate behaviour on my part," reads a reply in the decision from Levesque.
Testimony given by the girl described Levesque throwing the marker overhand with it being "whipped" across the room.
Information on the school where the event took place was not made public in the decision.
Case cost $54,000
The report reads that "demonstrably impatient behaviour, inappropriate classroom management techniques and the foreseeability of injury in combination constitute a marked departure from the norm and constitute professional misconduct."
It goes on to say that the committee finds a reprimand is "probably the lowest form of order available and in keeping with the gravity of the issue."
Part of the Registered Teachers Act allows the committee to impose the cost of the investigation and hearing on a teacher. The decision said the cost of the case totalled $54,288.
The committee, however, determined "that the costs of this case are needlessly high and that the teacher bears some responsibility." It ordered Levesque to pay $10,000 of the cost.
The decision said if Levesque didn't pay within 30 days of the decision, his teacher's certificate would be suspended.