Teacher discipline: What can parents find out about teachers? (CBC Marketplace)

this is marketplace you should feel safe in the school a cross-country test the first of its kind this teacher was thrown back into a classroom with new kids what's kept secret about your kids teacher what was your reaction upset I thought the school didn't really care secret files dangerous teachers he asked me to go on webcam and just spill something on myself who's looking after your child this is your market place across the country we all remember our favorite teacher mrs. Campbell in grade five mr. Zhu Kovac miss wall my English teacher my favorite teacher was Kelvin Teague someone who changed our lives for the better and she really got me into reading with the first Harry Potter book she's the one who got me to like math she was just an amazing woman and she was a great teacher but a negative experience in the classroom can be just as long-lasting go to calm down chair instead so what does happen when there's a bad apple in the classroom to find out we're grading each province on the information they share about teachers creating our own unofficial report card what we find will shock you first stop Fredericton New Brunswick Carly's in grade 9 and on most days likes going to school but that wasn't always the case it felt like I had the book bag of bricks on my back that I felt stressed I felt worried I felt endangered I felt like it was just me and the other students in my class and like I couldn't do anything I wanted to do anything to get out of school I wanted to like hurt myself I didn't want to go to school at all Carly's fear is fueled by a bully she says it's not a fellow student it's her elementary teacher here's what she remembers she would yell and scream at us she would also cuss sometimes sometimes she hit kids fingers with ruler or she would tap them with a cane and it wasn't okay do you like want peanut butter on celery yes please okay Carly tells her mom Gina Mero at first she's not convinced we all had mean teachers growing up who you know really in hindsight weren't that bad and I kept telling her you know Carly it's not that bad get through school it's okay but soon Gina realizes Carly's not okay that school year she missed 41 days of school she would have headaches constantly bad bad headaches stomachaches I had taken her to the emergency room one point in time where she was just the pains are so bad in her stomach and anything I did didn't help desperate Gina turns to the school for help so I approached the teacher first spoke to her myself I then went to the principal and vice-principal nothing changes so Gina writes directly to New Brunswick's Education Minister that leads to an investigation and Carly's teacher is found guilty of unprofessional and inappropriate conduct but the details are vague can you read me the letter you got sure the complaint has determined to be founded under category 2 misconduct please be advised that the appropriate action has been taken what was the appropriate action I don't know what was your biggest concerns Yuna that there was going to be other kids it went through with what my daughter went through gene is worried she wants to know if other parents will ever know what happened she calls New Brunswick's Department of Education to find out hi is there any way to obtain any information on my daughter's teacher oh and fortunately we're not allowed to share this information oh not in New Brunswick that's private information private in the public education system here's where we put teacher transparency to the test hi there I'm calling to find out what information you share on teacher disciplines in Prince Edward Island each province and territory regulates its own teachers so we call each one hi there I'm wondering what information you share on teacher disciplines in Nunavut over and over again we're told that information is completely private we think secrecy like that deserves a failing grade so on our unofficial national report card we're giving a majority of provinces and territories an F Saskatchewan and Alberta they pass but with a dean they'll release some data but it's minimal or hard to access to learn how all this secrecy affects kids in the classroom we head to Halifax Nova Scotia it's home to the Ames Institute a think tank on education where we find the perfect tutor Paul Bennet's been a teacher principal and school superintendent hey dr. Bennett he now studies teacher discipline he thinks we need more openness public access would significantly improve the system it would make everyone much more attune to the importance of performing well and it would give those teachers that are doing a great job and that's the majority of them some confidence what do you think we should be able to find out whether teachers have had any current or past indiscretions whether they've been found guilty of any offenses and what have steps have been taken to try to remediate those information like that might be good for parents but what do teachers think of their records being public after school we catch up with Toronto second grade teacher Megan Bruni I think they should have access I mean the parents do need to give the trust and they should they should wonder what's happening at school would public accountability public access make better teachers it would because the teachers would be held more responsible and accountable for their jobs and with that accountability the teachers would be more inclined there's more of an incentive to do to do well to do your best she should know in the province where she works parents do have access to teacher records turns out only two provinces make that information public Ontario and BC both have public online databases you can enter your teacher's name and then see if they've been disciplined before transparency like that is worth extra credit so our unofficial report card gives both Ontario and British Columbia a be why not an a because transparency alone isn't keeping trouble teachers out of the class Oliver don't forget your book bag just ask this Toronto mom and her 12 year old son sure let's get going okay when me me Troy dropped all of her off at school she had no idea his teacher had been in trouble before for physical abuse on three other kids now Oliver is coming forward with his story what did Oliver tell you happened he told me that he was going back to his class after recess he saw the teacher coming down the hall and when they met at the doors the teacher grabbed his shoulders and pushed him and Oliver hit his head on the door Mimi can't believe it the principal calls in police and Children's Aid hi Oliver bro I have a police officer they interview Oliver to assess what happened he pushes you across here and then your head hits this side of the door that makes you so this side of your head yeah police don't lay charges they tell me me there's not enough evidence of intentional assault but for Oliver a line was crossed how did you feel being treated like that by a teacher surprised shocked on Mimi's request we're not showing his face had anybody ever shoved you like that before not your friends certainly not an adult no the school does remove the teacher from class but won't say for how long what was it like when you didn't know if he was coming back or not I kind of scared nervous and I was hoping that he wouldn't come back Mimi's anxious too so she begins some detective work of her own starting with Ontario's teacher database what she reads shocks her the teachers discipline record with details of the three previous incidents pulled the ear of one young student held the arms of another and touched or squeezed a third around the neck the teacher insists he in no way intended to cause harm what did you think when you discovered that this teacher had been found guilty of physically mistreating kids before it was both horrible and I guess a little gratifying because it confirmed you know what Oliver had experienced that this was a pattern for those offenses that college suspends the teacher for 20 days and orders counselling in anger management whatever courses he took I've done nothing as far as I can tell I didn't understand that it was a sexual thing broken trust dangerous teachers sharpen your pencil this is your market place our unofficial report card on teacher transparency has given nine provinces and territories a failing grade for keeping teacher discipline secret two provinces do share information BC and Ontario but there's room for improvement it can take years to determine if a teacher is guilty to students in Toronto learned that the hard way we're bringing them together for a reunion carmen north and daniel gray are now in their 20s yeah they haven't seen each other in almost 10 years thanks for coming today back in junior high they attended class with the same popular teacher what was mr. Bradford like as a teacher I guess you could say he was considered a cool teacher he was very outgoing I felt very comfortable around him he made jokes and he was kind of more of a friendly figure than a teacher figure I really liked him a lot Gavin Bradford taught music when Carmen was in grade 7 and Danielle in grade 8 he befriended both students inside class and out you noticed I was like a bit of like an outcast and so he would say you know you and me we're different people don't understand us it really did start off just establishing a relationship of trust he brought up the fact that if you added him on MSN which was the messenger back in the day um that he would send you um kind of school assignments and being a teenager in my head I thought that was cool but the more they talked the more disturbing the conversations became he would always ask me do you have any secret ambitions in life and I thought that was a strange thing to ask and he would tell me that his secret ambition was to hit a student in the face with a pie and then uh he asked me if he could hit me in the face with a pie the message is often centered around food and veered from bizarre I'll give you a perfect mark if you let me buy you too sexual and he said maybe I could spill something on you maybe I could spill coffee on you or water and then he asked me like oh maybe wear a white shirt tomorrow was there ever anything more than chatting did he ever send videos or pictures or did you he started asking me to go on webcam and he asked me to go on webcam and just spill something on myself he was he pressured me about it he definitely like wouldn't let it go he's persistent yeah yeah very Carmen keeps the webcam off so does Danielle but they're not the only students Gavin Bradford is talking to mr. Bradford was actually speaking to 21 different students did you know that I didn't know that I didn't get all 21 students are female turn on your webcam if you could fill a bathtub with something busy what would it be what do you record yourself getting messy for me you're really young you're not you know full teenagers yeah how did you feel when you read this I knew that there was something off about it and at the same time I didn't really understand the magnitude of the situation well just really confused because I mean I just feel like if it had been a few years later I would have thought immediately okay this is wrong Carmen tells her mom she takes a copy of those messages straight to the principal apparently the principal went white in the face completely shocked and upset about it and then he was gone the next day Bradford's gone from the school but it's up to the Ontario College of Teachers to decide if he'll lose his teaching certificate for good for Carmen and Danielle it's an open-and-shut case they don't expect a decision to take long so how many teachers have lost their certificates that's mostly a secret too so through Canada's access to information laws we request records of all teachers who have had certificates revoked going back 10 years the process takes months but eventually a national picture emerges interesting on average 40 teachers lose their certificates each year those numbers should be a lot higher according to education experts Paul Bennett we know that there is more incidents going on than are publicly reported and we have a very good evidence that many of the cases are buried the numbers we uncover are all over the map in the past decades some provinces and territories have revoked nearly 200 certificates others as few is zero details reveal teachers losing certificates for verbal psychological and emotional abuse viewing child pornography on school computers physical violence indecent exposure and sexual assault well that's one of the reasons we need serious reform and we need a process that ensures the public that serious infractions or acts of indiscipline or worse not tolerated in the school system teacher Megan Bruni agrees it's very difficult to be fired as a teacher which i think is silly I mean I'm lucky that I have a job there's a whole lot of teachers trained out there that don't have work that are enthusiastic and we do an excellent job so I think it's more frustrating to know that there's ineffective teachers in the job so where they are waiting to get work failing system so the Ontario College of Teachers ever contacted either of you nope you were never interviewed no we fight for answers real learning coming right at you this is marketplace most provinces keep information on educators who've been disciplined secret including New Brunswick where Carly's elementary teacher was found guilty of misconduct her mom Jeana Mero believes the teacher is gone for good until she receives a message on facebook from a mom with a daughter in a different school this person said that her daughter was going through a very similar situation want to know if it was the same teacher it was the same teacher the exact same teacher I was floored this teacher was thrown back into a classroom with new kids new parents nobody knew maybe of the story um and she was doing it all over again moving teachers around is a dirty secret in the school system tell me about this term passing the trash so a pattern exists where teachers that are troublesome are having trouble with the kids or have collecting parent complaints get passed on to another school it also conceals from the public what's actually happening in Toronto Oliver's teacher moved to his school after being disciplined for physically abusing three students where he taught before after his run-in with Oliver the teacher is gone for the rest of the year but now they're told he'll be back in September what was your reaction upset I thought this school didn't really care I didn't want to have any interaction with him not wanting her son to face the teacher again maybe pulls him from the school and you had to leave not the teacher great for you that's the worst part mm-hmm the outcome still brings tears I have some tissues if you want and Oliver's not the only one getting upsetting news when Carmen and Danielle were in junior high their teacher Gavin Bradford was caught sending sexual messages to 21 female students including them the Ontario College of Teachers investigates to determine if his teaching certificate should be revoked but Carmen and Danielle hear nothing so the Ontario College of Teachers never contacted either of you no you were never interviewed no did they ever talk to your parents yep finally almost five years later they've graduated by the time headlines on their food fetish teacher hit the news this story became an international scandal the Ontario College of Teachers eventually found Bradford guilty of sexual abuse and revoked his certificate but too late he's already been teaching in Scotland for at least two years they almost five years between the complaint coming forward and his certificate being revoked there was nothing to let anybody know what had happened to you or to you or to 19 other girls it's not right I mean he basically got a fresh start there should be faster movement because there's a huge difference between somebody coming with allegations and here's the conversation with a teacher in your school board we asked the Ontario College of Teachers about the Bradford case they won't comment on specific files but do say their timelines for action are improving let's check on that we review the college's last 100 cases and find the amount of time from incident to decision is just shy for years for teacher Megan Bruni that's too long for students and the accused there's the possibility that if the teacher is guilty of that wrongdoing and they're still working in the classroom with children and then if the teacher is not guilty they have that hanging over their head or are not working and their reputation is on the line for that amount of time Mimi's also worried about time six months ago she filed her own complaint with the Ontario College of Teachers they've just told her they need more time to investigate Mimi's not waiting around have a cake a bye Oliver's already enrolled in his new school there are some hopeful signs of change across the country Saskatchewan just uploaded their own online database of teachers it won't reveal past findings but future disciplines will be posted and in New Brunswick the Department of Education tell us they're now reviewing the information they make public too late for Carly but she's learning to trust teachers again in phys ed how are you doing they're good we started square dancing asked Rick Hanson now she wants to do what she can to help fellow students probably why did you decide to talk to us I feel like you'll be able to get the message out and like show that we should have like a voice

Channel: CBC News

Views: 1,448,639

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Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting, news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, publishing, cbc marketplace, marketplace cbc, marketplace, teachers, teaching, abuse, schools, education, transparency

Id: XMWUuYGqu18

Length: 21min 32sec (1292 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 08 2016