Image Credit: ADOBE STOCK
April 28, 2020 - 12:29 PM
A Coquitlam teacher who said SOGI 123 was harmful to students and tried to distribute pamphlets with that same message had her teaching certificate suspended for a day and will have to take a course on 'creating a positive learning environment'.
Dori Waldene Hannibal agreed to a formal reprimand, acknowledged she committed professional misconduct in 2019 and signed a consent resolution agreement with the Commissioner for Teacher regulation, according to a public notice posted online today, April 28.
According to the notice, on June 18, 2019, while at the Coquitlam school where she worked, a member of the Parent Advisory Committee spoke with Hannibal about a school-related matter.
As the conversation progressed, Hannibal started discussing the advisory council meeting later that same evening and gave her some anti-SOGI 123 pamphlets to disperse.
“Those pamphlets were published by Parents United Canada and included the statement ‘stop SOGI 123’ which refers to policy and curriculum related to sexual orientation and gender identity that includes a focus on valuing diversity and respecting differences and the topics of human right and responses to discrimination,” the notice reads.
“When Hannibal spoke with the member of the Parent Advisory Committee, she also made inflammatory statements about the content and nature of SOGI policy and curriculum, including that it is harmful to students.”
When the school district got wind of what happened, it investigated the matter and Hannibal was disciplined Oct. 15, 2019 with a suspension without pay for 15 days.
On Dec. 6, 2019 the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation considered the case and determined to propose a consent resolution agreement to Hannibal, in accordance with the Teachers Act and suspended her licence for a day. She was also required to finish the positive learning environment course from the Justice Institute of B.C. or she would be suspended until she did.
The report said it also considered that Hannibal's statement was "contrary to the policy of the District and the Ministry of Education."
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