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A BC French teacher who snatched students' phones and laptops without asking, seemed angry and annoyed and raised her voice, has received a two-day suspension and a black mark from the regulator all due to her behaviour on a single day three and a half years ago.

According to an April 15 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, on-call teacher Brigitte Vivianne Monique Marie Lépine made a series of missteps one day in September 2021 when she was an on-call teacher for a late French immersion Grade 7 class.

The decision said Lépine appeared angry and annoyed and frequently raised her voice throughout the day.

"Some students reported feeling badly, as they felt that they had done something wrong. One student reported feeling scared, another reported feeling anxious and a third reported feeling nervous," the teaching regulator said in the decision.

"Lépine’s repeated inappropriate conduct and punitive approach did not foster a positive learning environment. Lépine put the emotional well-being of her students at risk."

The day appears to have started badly for Lépine when students laughed at her for mispronouncing a pupil's name during attendance.

After attendance, the class watched a presentation on racism and she told the children they were racist for laughing at her mispronunciation.

She later told a student who had answered a question, "You have to use your brains" before telling her class they were supposed to make her life easier.

At one point, she grabbed a fidgeting student's hand and pushed it down toward their desk telling them "Pay attention."

The student reported feeling "shocked."

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As the day progressed, she denied a student's request to refill their water bottle saying, "You have not been behaving very nicely to me so you can’t go."

The teacher regulator also took issue with Lépine confiscating students' phones and laptops throughout the day.

"Lépine did not ask students to surrender their electronics but rather, she grabbed their phones or laptops out of their hands without saying anything. At the end of the day when students were waiting to get their electronics back, Lépine kept them waiting, telling them, "You wasted my time, now I am going to waste your time," the decision read.

The events took place at an unnamed School District No. 43 Coquitlam school and shortly afterwards she was suspended for two days and made to take a Creating a Positive Learning Environment course.

The school board said she needed to interact with students and staff in a "civil, courteous, and professional manner."

She was also told to set "consistent classroom expectations" use "constructive and age-appropriate methods to hold students accountable for their behaviour" and refrain from physical contact.

The school district also said she should seek assistance from the school administration if she became frustrated or emotionally triggered by student behaviour.

The decision said she had previously been issued a letter of discipline in 2019, and suspended for a day without pay, for having inappropriate verbal and physical interactions with students.

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Months after the incidents in January 2022, the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation opened an investigation.

"Lépine has engaged in a repeated pattern of similar inappropriate behaviour with her students... (and) Lépine’s conduct has not improved despite having taken remedial coursework in the past," the Commissioner for Teacher Regulation said in the decision.

Lépine signed a consent agreement admitting to her behaviour and agreed to take the Communicating in Conflict course by April 30.

The BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation didn't say why it took more than three years for it to issue the public reprimand.

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