Ontario College of Teachers Hearings -- March 2016

Three-member panels of the Discipline Committee conduct public hearings into cases of alleged incompetence or professional misconduct... Discipline Committee panels have ordered that summaries of these recent disciplinary cases be published in Professionally Speaking. Copies of the full decisions are available at oct.ca/members/complaints-and-discipline/decisions.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of Brent Douglas Ashley, a teacher with the York Region District School Board, for an inappropriate and unprofessional personal relationship with a female student... The relationship between Ashley and the student at his school involved kissing, touching, oral sex and sexual intercourse. The activities took place between December 1, 2006, and September 16, 2007, at the school and/or the member’s parents’ home and/or in the member’s vehicle. At the Superior Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ashley was criminally convicted of one count of sexual exploitation and sentenced to 12 months in prison and two years probation on December 6, 2010.

A Discipline Committee panel suspended the certificate of Francesco Ciraco, a teacher at the Toronto Catholic District School Board, for sexually abusing a female colleague. ... In April 2009, during an elevator ride in the school, Ciraco told his colleague that she was beautiful and kissed her on the cheek. He then placed one hand on her right breast and cupped it. With the other hand, he squeezed her left buttock. He then bent over and kissed the exposed portion of her right breast. His colleague immediately pushed him away as his actions were done without her consent. Ciraco was found guilty of sexual assault in December 2010. His board suspended him without pay for three days and transferred him to another school.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of retired teacher John George Drynan for possessing child pornography and receiving a criminal conviction for that crime. ... Drynan’s son was at the family home with his wife and daughter during the holiday season in 2010. He used Drynan’s computer to surf the Internet and when he entered a website into the search field, websites linked to child pornography popped up. He confronted Drynan and the member did not deny searching for child porn. Drynan’s son reported what he saw to police. Drynan was criminally convicted of possession of child pornography and sentenced to 12 days in jail, to be served intermittently, and two years probation on May 6, 2011.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of Paul André Dumais, a teacher at the Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario, in connection with a criminal conviction for possession of child pornography... Dumais pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in September 2010 and was sentenced to nine months in prison and one year of probation in January 2011. His peripheral computer devices had 170 pictures and 44 films of a pornographic nature depicting sexual activities involving intimate parts of the bodies of young girls.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of Joseph Georges Yves Lafortune in connection with criminal convictions for the sexual touching of four girls and possession of child pornography.... Lafortune pleaded guilty to the sexual touching of four girls under the ages of 14 and 16 in December 2010, and to possession of an extensive collection of child pornography in March 2011. He was sentenced to 54 months in prison for the charges in April 2011.

A Discipline Committee panel suspended the teaching certificate of Gilbert Ignatios (Ian) McIntyre for repeatedly sexually harassing a new teacher and using his senior position at the school to pursue a relationship with her. During the 2001–02 school year, McIntyre acted in an inappropriate manner toward a first-year probationary teacher. He frequently entered and disrupted her classroom. He pursued an un-wanted kiss, by forcing himself on her at her home. He discredited her spouse and encouraged her to leave him. He used a false pretext — that he had important staffing information relevant to her — to lure her to have coffee with him, and then gave her a “love poem.” She stated in her testimony she felt threatened by the member and that he was stalking her. McIntyre was dismissed by the school board on May 2, 2003.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of Amy Louise Mullins for the sexual abuse of a student and other acts of professional misconduct... From 2001–03, Mullins had a sexual relationship with a male student. She allowed students in her care to engage in sexual acts. She placed herself in a compromising situation in hotel rooms. She provided,  aid for and tolerated alcohol consumption while students were in her care. She continued contact with a student even after forbidden to do so by his parents. She allowed students to stay at her home without their parents’ knowledge or approval. She shared a hotel bed with male students in various states of undress. The school board suspended Mullins in December 2006.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the teaching certificate of Michael Grant Slater, a former teacher employed by the Carleton Board of Education and/or the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board for sexually abusing two male students.... Between September 1968 and June 1984, Slater committed sexual offences against two male students while he was a teacher at the students’ school. In 2014, he was found guilty of one count of indecent assault, three counts of gross indecency and one count of buggery. He was sentenced to three years incarceration.

A Discipline Committee panel admonished former College member Jacques Tremblay for conduct unbecoming a member.... Tremblay co-authored the novel The Sexteens and the Fake Goddess. The book, published in 2008, contains sexualized content and sexualized, negative and stereotypical descriptions of characters playing the role of high school students, teachers and educational administrators. In October 2011, an article by a journalist expressing his opinion on the novel created controversy in the school community. Tremblay submitted his resignation as a College member in 2014.

A Discipline Committee panel revoked the Certificate of Qualification and Registration of William Robert Wallace, a former teacher at the Carleton Board of Education, for sexually assaulting a student.... The panel heard that in August 1984, while  attending a party at the home of the student’s parents, Wallace committed a sexual assault after he asked to stay overnight to avoid driving home after drinking. He was arrested the following morning and, in December 1984, was found guilty of sexual assault, sentenced to a conditional discharge and placed on three years probation.

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Professionally Speaking -- March 2016 by John Laws