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A BC gym teacher has been suspended after he encouraged his students to hit each other with pool noodles.

The grade nine gym class was playing hockey using pool noodles instead of sticks, with some striking their classmates in the face.

Russell Stephen Bodnar, who was teaching in the Pacific Rim school district, was handed a three-day suspension by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation a year after it was first told of the foam noodle hockey game.

The decision, published March 5, doesn't say when the game happened, but he tried to tell students not to hit "too hard" and not in the head.

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He still encouraged them to hit one another, goading some to "fight back" with their pool noodle, according to the decision.

Despite his attempt to get the pool noodle strikes away from student's heads, some were hitting above the neck, which some students described as "aggressive."

One student was hit in the face repeatedly, knocking their glasses off their face.

Bodnar learned after the game that the student's glasses were broken, while the student's face was red and bruised.

The bruising became more pronounced throughout the day.

Bodnar commented at some point that the student was hit "pretty hard," but didn't follow up for any injuries or complete an incident report with the school. He did not tell the student's parents why their glasses were broke.

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In March 2023, he was suspended for five days without pay by the school district. The provincial regulator now added another three-day suspension.

He will also have to take a course called "creating a positive learning environment" before September.

The teacher regulator found he has "engaged in repeated concerning conduct," and it's not the first time it has taken action against Bodnar.

He was suspended for a day in November 2022 and banned from coaching school sports. The former wrestling coach used a student to demonstrate a technique during practice "without warning and without consent."

The student was uncomfortable and he failed to appreciate the "emotional and physical impact of his conduct."

That incident was in December 2021, for which the school district also suspended him for three days.

He was disciplined earlier that year after allegations he made inappropriate comments to students and encouraged his grade eight gym class to "twerk."

In 2019, the school district sent him a letter to remind him that when he is not coaching "touching students without their consent is not acceptable."

What prompted the letter isn't clear.

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