Decision Summary

As published in the March 2008 edition of Professionally Speaking.

Member: Frederick Paul Fromm
Registration number: 236026
Decision: Certificates revoked

A Discipline Committee panel held public hearings on January 25, 26, and 27, 2005, April 17, 18, 19, May 1, 2, 3, 8 and June 12 and 13, 2007 into 10 allegations of professional misconduct against Frederick Paul Fromm for conduct undermining the values of society and the duties and functions assigned to teachers.

Fromm was first certified to teach in June 1973 and was employed by the Peel DSB between 1974 and 1993. He represented himself at the hearings.

The panel received evidence that Fromm, while employed in Peel, co-founded and was research director for Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform (C-FAR) and co-founded the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE). Both organizations espouse beliefs and values contrary to the principles of multiculturalism and tolerance.

During a speech for C-FAR in 1989, Fromm discussed the “threat to our rights and freedoms from multiculturalism.” Fromm associated with skinhead supporters at a public meeting of the Toronto Mayor’s Committee on Community and Race Relations; participated in a Martyr’s Day Rally sponsored by the Heritage Front in conjunction with C-FAR, applauding the keynote speaker who ended his speech with the Nazi salute and the words “white power”; attended a Heritage Front meeting to celebrate Hitler’s birthday; heckled a native Canadian speaker at the 1989 Mayor’s Committee meeting with “scalp him”; and attended, organized and spoke at events involving white supremacists or similar organizations.

Fromm “spoke against multiculturalism and non-white immigration, used racist language in relation to Jews, Asians and Aboriginal people while participating in public events involving individuals and organizations with racist views,” the panel said in its written decision.

“This conduct continued despite reprimands from his employer and a Ministry-commissioned investigation into his activities. His continued actions significantly affected students and staff and resulted in creating a poisoned school environment and these actions were inconsistent with the values of the profession,” the panel said.

The panel wrote: “The College did not allege that the member failed to adequately perform his professional duties in the classroom. This case is not about the member’s right to hold political views that are unpopular, or to participate in legal political activities. It is about whether a teacher who publicly expresses views which are contrary to the values of the profession and the education system, and which have a negative impact on the education system, is entitled to be a member of this College. The member’s conduct outside the classroom has detrimentally impacted the school community and has caused a loss of confidence in both Mr. Fromm as a teacher and in the Ontario school system.”

“The severity of the misconduct, its ongoing duration and the degree of harm caused to the school community was high,” the panel said.

The panel relied upon the Supreme Court of Canada ruling about the importance of teacher conduct that takes place outside the formal boundaries of the classroom.

In Ross versus New Brunswick School District No 15 [1996] 1 SCR 825 at paragraph 44, the Court held:

“By their conduct, teachers as ‘medium’ must be perceived to uphold the values, beliefs and knowledge sought to be transmitted by the school system. The conduct of a teacher is evaluated on the basis of his or her position, rather than whether the conduct occurs within the classroom or beyond. Teachers are seen by the community to be the medium for the educational message and because of the community position they occupy, they are not able to ‘choose which hat they will wear on what occasion’… teachers do not necessarily check their teaching hats at the school yard gate and may be perceived to be wearing their teaching hats even off duty.”

Having considered the evidence and onus and standard of proof, the panel found Fromm guilty of professional misconduct and directed the Registrar to revoke his Certificates of Qualification and Registration.

The panel said there was no doubt that Fromm’s conduct was in conflict with the values of the education system. “His expressed views that deny the basic equality and dignity of every person go to the very heart of the public education system. The impact of that conduct was also clear – disruption, tension, fear, mistrust – both in terms of those within his school community and the public at large.”

The panel’s decision appears on the College’s public register.