The B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch has cleared a Burnaby teacher-librarian of any wrongdoing, more than two years after an incident at a public forum.
Sharon Gail Freeman was the subject of a complaint filed with the branch, following a tense all candidates' meeting for school board hopefuls leading up to the 2011 civic election.
As previously reported in the NOW, the incident occurred on Nov. 1, 2011, at the Burnaby Association for Community Inclusion, while the candidates were fielding questions from the audience.
The son of Jade Tomelden, an independent school board candidate, told the candidates he had seen a teacher duct tape a student's mouth shut, and asked what the appropriate disciplinary action should be. (The alleged incident took place in a Vancouver school, and Tomelden transferred her son and ran for school board because of it.)
Freeman, a teacher-librarian at Stride Avenue Elementary, was sitting in the audience during the meeting. She then stood to her feet and scolded the child, stating that it was an "inappropriate question" and that the student had a responsibility to go to his teacher and principal immediately. The boy left the room and later returned in tears.
Freeman also spoke to the crowd, identifying herself as a teacher and apologizing, stating she didn't mean to criticize the boy.
"I just think that as a teacher, we would want that dealt with immediately," she said, "and I would hope that the principal of the school would have been notified immediately, and I know that from my past experience as a member of the BTA (Burnaby Teachers' Association) and as an officer of the BTA, that there's no teacher in Burnaby that would accept that kind of behaviour from any of their colleagues."
After the meeting, According to the hearing decision documents, Freeman tried to apologize to the student, but Tomelden said the boy didn't want to talk to her.
According to the branch, Freeman didn't know the boy was Tomelden's son or that the alleged duct-tape incident happened in Vancouver.
The whole event was caught on tape, and RoadKill Radio, which was allied with Burnaby Parents' Voice, an ad hoc party of opponents to the school district's anti-homophobia policy, posted the clip online.
The NOW, the Vancouver Sun and CTV also reported on the issue.
The Teacher Regulation Branch panel members decided that Freeman was not guilty of professional misconduct, since she was "acting in her private capacity," nor was she guilty of conduct unbecoming of a teacher, which generally applies to off-duty behaviour.
The panel reviewed the video and found that Freeman spoke in a normal tone and volume, and while she spoke sharply to the student, she didn't abuse, ridicule or debase him in any way.
The panel also considered Freeman's "excellent" reputation as a teacher and her unblemished record that dates back to 1981.
Click here to read the full decision, or go to Jennifer Moreau's blog for more on this story.
