Michael Zwaagstra: Teacher Misconduct Should Be Publicly Reported
Commentary
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) has released its latest report on child abuse in schools. Its findings are concerning.
Over the last four years, 252 current or former school personnel committed or were accused of committing, offences of a sexual nature involving children.
According to the report, the actual number of offenders is likely much higher since many provinces have only limited data available. That’s because not all provinces require public disclosure of teacher discipline decisions, and this means that the public only hears about teacher misconduct if a case goes to court.
The good news is that Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick do make teacher discipline cases public. Even better is the fact that two of these provinces, Alberta and New Brunswick, moved in this direction within the last couple of years. This indicates that provincial governments are feeling pressure to address this problem….