FILE PHOTO

Image Credit: PEXELS

A B.C. teacher resigned from her job after she was found to be showing her students movies during class time and coming to work without lesson plans.

Delta-area teacher Cindy Chi-Ching Tong still had her teaching certificate suspended for one day after coming to a consent agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation. She received her teaching certificate in 2018.

In 2020, she showed her grade 2 students several films during class time, including the first in the Halloween horror franchise and Marvel movies.

READ MORE: Little recourse for B.C. parents overcharged for daycare

The regulator found several examples where Tong failed to act in "respectful behaviour" and used material that was not age appropriate for her grade 2 students from October 2020 to February 2021.

In November 2020, she showed films for two days in a row so she could finish report cards.

A learning support teacher in her classroom told Tong at one point she should only show her grade 2 students G-rated films. She showed the class the PG-13 movie The Avengers the next day.

Along with frequent movies in the classroom, the teacher regulator found she came to class without daily lesson plans.

READ MORE: This Coldstream house sold for $10 million below original asking price

She would assign worksheets without teaching the subject first, allowing them to figure it out on their own. When students couldn't understand the lesson, Tong would appear "visibly frustrated."

"Some students reported feeling afraid as a result," the decision read.

At Christmas, Tong had students copy a bible story into their journals, but that wasn't her only religious lesson.

She also distributed "nature notebooks," which included more bible verses, according to the decision. The decision didn't explain how those notebooks were used and whether they were included in science lessons.

At one point, Tong confessed that she was a bully in school and told students she made another student eat an orange rind, smeared dog feces on a student's locker and punched someone, according to the decision.

The teacher regulator decision also said she gave "easy" and "hard" homework to different students. Some students felt Tong had favourites in the class. Some students felt "sad" Tong didn't appear to like all students equally.

The teaching regulator decided Tong will serve her one-day suspension on Dec. 7, and will complete an inclusive learning environment course by June 30, 2023.

However, her resignation from School District 37 was effective April 30, 2021, and the decision doesn't say she started teaching again elsewhere.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2022