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November 28, 2019 - 6:30 AM
A teacher with a history of anger management issues briefly had his licence suspended by the B.C. Teacher’s Regulation Branch.
According to a consent resolution agreement posted online this week, Mark Walter Zatylny, who was employed in the Peace River School District until he resigned in 2018, had been reprimanded multiple times for heated interactions with students.
In 2015 he kicked a student’s chair and was verbally abusing students. For that he had been sent to anger management classes and was ordered to keep his door open at all times.
In 2016 there was another incident and he was suspended and asked to take part in a positive discipline training course through the B.C. Teachers Federation.
The licence suspension, however, related to 2017 incidents.
While teaching Grade 4, Zatylny was reported for frequently yelling and being visibly angry in front of his students.
“He would use a gym whistle to try and control the class which was so loud that some students covered their ears when he used it,” reads the consent agreement.
On Nov. 10, 2017, Zatylny grew angry with his class, and hit the wall and the desk with a closed fist. He then raised a rod, in a gesture believed to be threatening to hit the wall.
When the district got wind of this Nov. 17, 2017, it issued Zatylny a letter of discipline and suspended him for 10 days without pay. In addition, the district required Zatylny to participate in a plan for anger management.
Just months later, on Jan. 31, 2018, Zatylny was again in trouble, issued another letter of discipline and he was suspended for 15 days without pay. The district also made a report to the commissioner.
According to the consent agreement, on the same day Zatylny received his letter of discipline Nov. 17 2017, he approached an education assistant who worked in his classroom and questioned her about an ongoing investigation into his conduct and asked her to not talk to anyone about what she had seen.
She felt threatened by the conversation because he was her direct supervisor.
On June 8, 2018 Zatylny resigned from the district.
He entered a consent resolution agreement in May 2019, admitting misconduct. His qualifications were suspended for three days.
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