A Coquitlam teacher who had “inappropriate physical contact” with students on a number of occasions has been reprimanded and ordered to take a course at the Justice Institute of B.C. to correct her behaviour.
The allegations against Brigitte Marie Monique Vivianne Lépine stem from a series of complaints during the 2018-19 school year while she was a Grade 7/8 French Immersion teacher at an SD43 middle school.
On multiple occasions, she got physically rough with the students, removing students earphones by tugging on the wire, hauling another student by the collar back into class, and in one instance, yanking a student from their car.
Near the end of the year, Lépine told her class “she could not wait for the summer so that she could not have to deal with them anymore,” according to the discipline outcome from B.C. Commission for Teacher Regulation.
A week before a report was filed to the teachers’ discipline body, SD43 issued Lépine a letter of discipline and suspended her for one day without pay. That suspension was served Oct. 11, 2019.
At the time, the district required her to complete a course on communication and directed the teacher to “refrain from using physical contact with students except in an emergency.”
According to the consent resolution agreement with the teachers’ commission, which was made public this week, Lépine admitted her actions constituted professional misconduct and will be required to complete another course at the Justice Institute of B.C. focused on creating a positive learning environment for students.
If she fails to complete the course, her teaching certificate will be suspended, according to the disciplinary outcome.
Between January and March of this year, there have been 50 reports, complaints or commissioner-initiated investigations received by the B.C. Commission for Teacher Regulation.
