How swears, Shane Koyczan and a Nazi joke left a Merritt Grade 5 teacher in hot water | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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How swears, Shane Koyczan and a Nazi joke left a Merritt Grade 5 teacher in hot water

MERRITT - A teacher who made his students uncomfortable with his jokes and used swear words to discuss bullying with his Grade 5 students has been disciplined by the B.C. Teachers Regulation Board.

Peter Schmid, a Grade 5 teacher at Diamond Vale Elementary, was referred to the board for incidents in the months of May and June 2013. A resolution agreement between Schmid and the board was made back in November, but was made public just this week.

One of the events came when Schmid made a joke after a student sneezed. The joke — “What’s green and goes ‘heil Hitler’? A snotzi.” — was deemed inappropriate. During the two-month period, the teacher showed students a YouTube video depicting the Shane Koyczan poem To This Day. The decision states students and a staff member who was in the classroom reported feeling uncomfortable with language used in the video and Schmid’s use of the words slut, fag and bitch as he discussed bullying.

Following that report, the regulation found Schmid did not meet district expectations as well. The district said he was not punctual, did not properly plan lessons or use instructional time properly, failed to mark or give feedback on assignments or gave students full marks simply for turning in completed assignments.

Schmid was disciplined with a 20-day suspension without pay in December 2013. He was required to take a boundaries workshop, complete a course on teaching methodology and was directed to use electronic equipment solely for professional use in the classroom.

In November 2015 Schmid entered into an agreement with the regulation board which admitted to his conduct and consented to an investigation if the Commissioner has reason to believe he is violating his requirements as a teacher. The agreement also requires Schmid's consent for the information on his professional conduct to be made public on the regulation board website.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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