(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

A BC teacher was suspended for three days after throwing a computer charger at a distracted student.

The provincial regulator for teachers suspended him and ordered he take a teaching course more than two years after the incident, according to a recently published decision.

Justin Ray Arnesto, who's been teaching for four years, grew frustrated with the student who wasn't paying attention in class in January 2022.

The decision doesn't say which school Arnesto was working at, but it was a secondary school within the Fraser Cascade school district.

The "small computer charging device" missed the grade 8 student, hitting the back wall of the classroom, according to the Feb. 2 decision from the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

Although it didn't hit the student, Arnesto worried about the consequences if his employer found out. He found the student at lunch that day and tried to usher the student into an empty classroom to discuss it.

Arnesto told the student, who didn't want to speak to the teacher, that he didn't mean to throw it at the student. Arnesto said he did it because he was "frustrated."

The student angered Arnesto further, but also had him worried, telling him they intended to tell the principal.

Arnesto said the principal "will take my side over your side" and bringing the issue further would "not make any difference."

That's when the principal showed up in the hallway and they both rushed over to explain the incident.

In June 2023, the school district suspended Arnesto without pay for one day, but not before he threw another object at students during class.

In March 2022, he grew frustrated with the behaviour of some grade 8 students, so Arnesto broke a pencil in half and threw it at one of them.

Less than two weeks later, the school district sent him a letter of discipline and had Arnesto do "remedial work" to address his emotional regulation, according to the decision.

The decision noted the school district's investigation into the computer charger incident was delayed because Arnesto wasn't working from May 2022 until January 2023.

The provincial regulator decided Arnesto would serve an additional three-day suspension.

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