There's more to the story of Sharon Freeman, the local teacher at the centre of a misconduct hearing with the B.C. Teacher Regulation Branch.
As I reported, a boy asked a question at an all-candidates' meeting about an alleged incident where he saw a teacher duct tape a student's mouth shut. The question apparently struck a nerve with Freeman, who was in the audience. She got up and publicly scolded him about it, as seen in this video, and the boy left the room, later to return in tears.
I was in the room at the time, and I can attest that is was tense. You can't really tell from the video, but Freeman's interjection was jarring, and in my opinion, she was speaking to the boy in her teacher voice as if he was a student of hers who had done something wrong.
It was definitely out of line.
The boy also happened to be the son of Jade Tomelden, an independent candidate who decided to run for Burnaby school board because of this duct-taping incident, which allegedly happened in Vancouver. (She transferred her son, the incident was reported to the school's administration, but nothing more came of it that I know of.)
So, Freeman, who used to be on the executive with the Burnaby Teachers' Association, was obviously upset about this kid raising a serious allegation involving another teacher. She didn't know who the boy was, that his mom was running, or that the whole thing didn't even happen in Burnaby. She made a lot of assumptions, and it was a bit of a knee jerk reaction.
However, Tomelden, who was not aligned with any particular party, found a supportive ally with Burnaby Parents' Voice, the group of parents who formed an ad hoc civic party to run for school board. Parents' Voice, if you all remember, was mostly connected to the Willindon church, and their main mission was to stop the district from passing an anti-homophobia policy.
Kari Simpson, who runs RoadKill Radio, was a huge supporter of Parents' Voice and even had the boy and his mother on her show, characterizing Freeman as a teacher-bully. (Click here for that episode). Since Simpson can be a bit litigious, all I will say about her is that she's definitely on the right, her ideas are controversial, and she's very outspoken.
In my humble opinion, this teacher was out of line, but turning the incident into a political football was a bit much, and if Tomelden had any sense, she would not have gone on RoadKill Radio with her son.
Freeman, meanwhile, has a long track record of being involved in the community. She has been teaching since 1981. She is chair of the local library board and recently won an award from the B.C. Library Association.
Thankfully, this issue can be put to rest, as the board cleared Freeman of any wrongdoing, even though the tension in the room was lost on video.
