Discipline panel won’t hear Ashbury College sex assault victim impact statement

Ashbury College teachers Alyssa Novick and Ian
Middleton have been found guilty of professional
misconduct by the Ontario College of Teachers for their
actions in the wake of a serious assault on a student
in a Boston hotel room during a school trip in 2007.

A former Ashbury College high school student who was sexually assaulted on a school trip to Boston seven years ago wanted to submit a “victim Impact” statement to an Ontario College of Teachers panel responsible for disciplining two of his former teachers.

The young man, who can’t be identified as he was the victim of a sexual assault, was attacked by two classmates, while another videoed the assault and a fourth watched, in a Boston hotel room in 2007.

Two teachers, Ian Middleton and Alyssa Novick, were found guilty of professional misconduct earlier this year by the College for delaying calling the student’s parents at home in Ottawa.

By the time they were called, six or seven hours later, a third teacher had begun taking the two main perpetrators and the video evidence back to Canada.

On Wednesday, the panel refused to accept the statements on the advice of lawyers.

The panel was informed the statements were highly critical of the teachers and the school and covered more ground the professional misconduct charge.

The teachers’ lawyer Peter Engelmann told Metro he panel would have trouble disregarding what was said in the statements if they were put into evidence.  (more...)

Discipline panel won’t hear Ashbury College sex assault victim impact statement

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