A secondary teacher in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district has been reprimanded by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation after a confrontational incident with a student.
On Sept. 22, 2017, Gregory Norman Brock and a Grade 11 student had an altercation while they were in the school gym.
According to a consent resolution agreement, Brock asked the student to pass him a volleyball the student was holding. The student threw the ball overhand, but it rolled off his fingers and landed several feet from where Brock was standing.
Brock perceived this as a deliberate lack of cooperation from the student, says the agreement, so he raised his voice and ordered the student to leave the gym while angrily pointing towards the door.
The teacher then moved towards the student, positioning himself in “very close proximity to him, while maintaining a confrontational body stance,” says the agreement.
When the student failed to leave the gym, after being continually ordered to do so by the teacher, Brock gave a push to the student’s shoulder in the direction of the gym door.
Then Brock began to physically escort the student towards the door by walking towards him, keeping his right hand on the student’s right arm at all times, while the student walked backwards, stumbling slightly.
Brock also used profanity towards the student during the incident.
Brock was issued a letter of discipline and was suspended for three days without pay by School District No. 42.
The district also required Brock to attend a Justice Institute of B.C. workshop on maintaining professional boundaries, which he completed, as well as undergoing continuous monitoring and regular check-ins by school administrators.
In 2004, the district had already issued the teacher a letter of expectation following allegations that he used profane language, tone of voice and gestures in class.
The commissioner, as appointed under the Teacher’s Act, determined that a reprimand was appropriate after considering that the physical contact between Brock and the student was unnecessary, that the teacher’s behaviour appeared confrontational and that he was already familiar with the student and should have known how to respond to him more appropriately.