An elementary school teacher who has repeatedly used a “backup” measure against students in North Vancouver has been fired and ordered to take a course to promote a positive learning environment.
Sylvain Joseph-Leo Desbiens will put his knee on a student’s back as he pulls his hands behind him, which some children see as “criminal in nature,” according to a consent agreement released Tuesday by BC’s commissioner for regulation. teachers.
Desbiens would not use all his strength while performing a back-breaker, but he still seemed to be causing students discomfort.
“More than one student said it was painful,” the agreement said.
“In one case, a group of students nominated a classmate to” sacrifice “themselves for punishment by receiving a backbreaker because the other students did not want the backbreaker to be performed on them.”
The incidents happened during the 2018-19 school year, while Desbiense taught 4th and 5th graders. He did not perform the back-breaker move of the girls.
The teacher also sometimes “pinches a student’s trapeze to the point where it hurts” and “pretends to hit the students by forcibly hitting one of his hands in his open palm above their heads”, according to the consent agreement.
“In one case, he accidentally made contact with a student’s head while doing so,” it said.
“At least one student said he was afraid of Desbiense.”
The teacher’s behavior provoked several complaints from parents, which led to an investigation by the North Vancouver School District, which led to a three-day suspension without pay in 2019.
After reviewing the issue, the Commissioner for Teacher Regulation ordered Desbien to be suspended for another five days and to complete the course Creating a Positive Learning Environment through the British Columbia Institute of Justice.
In determining the sentence, the commissioner considered that Desbiense’s behavior “endangers the physical and emotional safety of the students in his class.”
The teacher was also reminded before that he was respectful of students after an incident in 2011 when he worked in Vancouver and used duct tape to seal a student’s mouth.
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