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October 27, 2020 - 7:30 PM
A Terrace-area high school teacher lost his licence for a day after making some unusual comments to his class, and referring to one student as someone who “hooked up with five guys.”
Marty Albert Strachan was with his Grade 11 homeroom students at a Coast Mountain district school in September 2019, when that comment and others were made, according to a Consent Resolution Agreement published today, Oct. 27.
At that time he was reviewing the school's code of conduct with the class.
“In the context of explaining the concept of guilt by association, Strachan mentioned President (Bill) Clinton and the fact he had smoked marijuana but denied inhaling it,” reads the decision published by the Commissioner for Teacher Resolution.
“He also commented about Clinton receiving a blow job.”
When reviewing the school's dress code, he called it a mess and made a comment to the effect that in the previous year, it was “almost a competition to see who could wear the least amount of clothing.”
For all this, the district on Oct 22, issued Strachan a letter of discipline and suspended him without pay for five days. He served the suspension from Oct. 29, 2019 to Nov. 1, 2019.
That wasn’t the first time he’d been disciplined by the district, though.
On Feb. 22, 2016 and Jan. 13, 2017 the district issued letters of discipline for failing to use appropriate language in the classroom and failing to maintain appropriate boundaries with three students. On both occasions, he was ordered to complete a course on boundaries.
The latest matter went to the Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, who noted previous reprimands, and for this Strachan has had his license suspended for a day.
The Commissioner said he failed to create a positive learning environment and has previously been warned about making inappropriate comments to students.
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