What Would You Do?

By law, cases under investigation are confidential. For the education of members, the following accounts, based on facts from real cases, raise important questions about teacher conduct, such as what is appropriate and what is not. Details have been altered to respect confidentiality.

The College Registrar initiated a complaint against Sandy, a high school teacher.
The allegations included the following:

• removing students from their classrooms to make personal cellphone calls on her behalf;
• encouraging students to breach school policy on cellphone use; and
• not adequately supervising students.

It was alleged that Sandy asked for volunteers with cellphones to come to a room adjacent to the classroom where they proceeded to repeatedly dial a number belonging to a financial institution. They did so, unsupervised, while Sandy taught a class.

Sandy acknowledges that she asked students to volunteer to use their cellphones to try and contact a financial adviser, but denied that it was ever her intention to deliberately violate school policy on cellphone use.

She also regularly opened the room adjacent to the room to observe the students and ensured that she was standing in close proximity to the room door.

If you were a member of the Investigation Committee panel, what would you have issued to this teacher:

• an admonishment in person (most severe)
• a written admonishment
• a written caution
• written advice
• a written reminder
• take no action (least severe)

The Outcome

The panel had concerns about the allegation that Sandy did not adequately supervise students and decided to caution Sandy.