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May 10, 2018 - 1:35 PM
Some humourless students got a Lower Mainland teacher suspended last year for making jokes in a high school class.
Michael Sedlak was suspended from School District 42 for three days last year after students complained he was making “weird” jokes, according to a recently released decision from the B.C. Commissioner for Teaching Regulation.
The “incidents” occurred during the 2015/2016 school year when Sedlak, who has been teaching since 2000, was in front of his grade 9 English class.
Sedlak, according to the decision, had a habit of giving students nick names.
“Sedlak would often add "erator" to the end of a student's name so that the name "Bruce" would become "Brucerator",” the decision says.
Some of the names were even relevant to the material he was teaching.
“After the class finished reading Farley Mowatt's book Never Cry Wolf, Sedlak referred to male students in the class as "my moose" and "my caribou" and to female students as "my deer."
This, according to their reports, made some students feel “awkward.”
Sedlak would also ask students how much change they had in their pockets when they would ask to go to the bathroom .
“While Sedlak meant this as a joke and never took money from them, students described these comments as being ‘weird’.”
The students also reported Sedlak for occasionally playing Clash of the Clans on his phone for less than a minute during silent reading time, “in full view of his students.”
The District issued Sedlak a letter of discipline and suspended him for three days without pay on May 24, 2017. The District has also required him to have ongoing monitoring and regular check-ins by his administrators.
Sedlak has received several letters of expectation and warning from The District including February 21, 2014 and May 12, 2014, asking him to “interact with students in a manner that is not disrespectful, degrading, humiliating or embarrassing” and “ensure that his interactive approach with students is respectful and dignified.”
On October 1, 2015, the District issued Sedlak a one-day suspension and required him to attend sessions on respecting boundaries and sensitivity training.
“The District made it clear that Sedlak needed to be more appropriate and professional 
when engaging with students,” the decision reads.
Sedlak did not dispute any of the allegations and agreed to the suspension without pay and to attend sensitivity workshops.
School District 42 covers Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
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