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An Okanagan middle-school teacher who encouraged a couple of Grade 8 students to snitch on their friend by giving them his cell phone and asking for a photo of a student slacking off has been reprimanded.

Separately, the teacher also emailed a pupil's parents to tell them their child was "warming a seat while distracting others" which made the mother feel like they were "bad parents."

The two incidents happened in the spring of 2023 and led the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation to issue a public reprimand against the Okanagan Skaha school district teacher Miko McGrady.

According to a July 30 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, McGrady had emailed the parents before concerned about the student's performance in the classroom.

Along with saying the student was "wasting their own time" and just "warming a chair" the email to the parents questioned whether the child would be better off doing an online program or being home schooled.

"McGrady noted that if (the) student had been his child, he would take away some or all of (the) student’s privileges. (The) mother reported feeling that they 'looked like bad parents' as a result of McGrady’s comments," the decision read.

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McGrady also got into trouble with the regulator for an incident where he gave two students his cell phone a month later.

The decision said McGrady was teaching a Grade 8 class when a student asked if they could go to the washroom. The teacher said yes, but told the student to leave their cell phone in their locker.

Unsurprisingly, the student ignored the teacher's request.

When the child didn't return, two friends offered to go and look for them but returned empty-handed.

McGrady then gave the two friends his cell phone with his camera turned on and said to go and find the pupil — who he suspected was playing on their phone — and snap a photo.

The friends found the pupil in the washroom but didn't take a photo of them.

School District No. 67 then took disciplinary action telling McGrady he had to take Reinforcing Respectful Professional Boundaries Training as soon as possible.

"McGrady had been previously told by the District to conduct himself in a respectful manner with his students and to be mindful of the importance of maintaining professional boundaries," the decision read.

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The teaching regulator also said McGrady's email to the parents did not improve the learning situation for (the) student and was "disrespectful" towards the student and their parents.

The decision didn't say which Okanagan middle school McGrady currently teaches at but says he's been teaching since 1997.

He's also been in trouble with the regulator before.

In 2010, he was suspended for two days without pay following allegations he used inappropriate language and made inappropriate comments to students. There's no mention in the decision as to what that language was.

He also openly discussed the school district's investigation into him with his students and outed the pupils he believed had snitched on him.

Eight years later, he was issued a letter of expectation by the school district telling him he was "expected to conduct himself with students in a manner which respects both the boundaries of the professional relationship and appropriate interactions with students."

Again, the regulator didn't explain what McGrady said or did.

In 2020, he was disciplined again for making "disrespectful comments to students" and a year later, faced more disciplinary action for failing to "conduct himself at all times with students in a manner which respects both the boundaries of the professional relationship and appropriate interactions with students."

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What the disrespectful comments were or how he didn't "respect" boundaries wasn't mentioned in the decision.

For his latest disciplinary action, McGrady signed a consent agreement admitting to his behaviour and agreed not to make any statement that "contradicts, disputes or calls into question" the information presented by the regulator.

The decision said McGrady "frankly acknowledged" that he made "errors."

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