FILE.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS / Jonathan Hayward
September 08, 2020 - 5:30 PM
A B.C. teacher who pleaded guilty to charges of sexual exploitation will never be able to get in front of a classroom again.
In a consent resolution summary posted online today, Sept. 8, the Commissioner of Teacher Regulation ruled that a lifetime ban on teaching was an appropriate punishment for the teacher who engaged in criminal misconduct involving a serious sexual exploitation of a vulnerable student.
“There was a pattern of boundary violations in addition to the most serious violation which led to the criminal conviction,” the regulatory body said in the summary.
Further, the teacher attempted to mislead and obstruct the district’s investigation.
According to the decision posted online on May 2, 2018, the district made a report to the commissioner, saying the teacher had begun a sexual relationship with a student at the school.
At that point, he was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a young person by a person in a position of trust or authority, contrary to section 153(1) of the Criminal Code and one count of sexual assault, contrary to section 271 of the Criminal Code.
The teacher resigned a month later, on June 16, 2018, and on July 6, 2018, the Commissioner initiated an investigation.
Then, in February 2019, the teacher pleaded guilty to a number of charges including sexual exploitation, and was sentenced in February 2020.
The teacher entered into a consent resolution agreement with the Commissioner in which he agreed that his conduct amounted to professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming.
“Under the terms of the consent resolution agreement, the teacher agreed that he would not apply for, and understand the Director of Certification will be required, under section 64(g) of the Teachers Act not to issue to him, a certificate of qualification, an independent school teaching certificate or letter of permission at any time in the future,” reads the decision.
While the B.C. Commissioner of Regulation didn’t name names, the dates of the event line up with the case against West Kelowna high school teacher Bradley Furman.
READ MORE: West Kelowna teacher who sexually exploited student gets 2 more years behind bars
Furman was sentenced in February, for seducing one of his students and then refusing to stop seeing her even after the court intervened.
Justice Clarke Burnett sentenced Furman, 30, to three years and two months jail at that time and credited him for 11 months already served.
That left two years and three months of new jail time to be served in a federal prison.
Burnett said Furman's actions "have had a profound detrimental effect" on the teen he engaged in the exploitative relationship with as well as her family.
His actions have also had a negative impact on his colleagues and he "has tarnished (the teaching) profession" with the selfish decision to have a relationship with the teen.
Furman and the girl started speaking during spring break in the 2017-2018 school year about, among other things, Dungeons and Dragons and Furman’s marital issues. Furman said he thought the young woman was beautiful and told her she was “his favourite student,” Crown counsel David Grabavac told the court during the course of the trial.
Texts of a more sexual nature emerged as the conversations continued and Furman eventually asked the girl for a nude photo. The exact nature of the messages has been sealed for the duration of the hearing, at Crown’s request.
Furman and the girl embarked on a physical relationship that was uncovered May 1, 2018 after Furman called the girl out of two classes with other teachers, which caused his peers to bring the matter to the school administration.
Mount Boucherie Secondary School’s principal and vice-principal watched video of Furman pulling the student from class and noted that they were “too close.” They then called Furman and the girl in for a conversation to talk about their relationship and learned that they had been sexually involved.
From there, Furman was charged and released on conditions which he broke four times. The court heard he and the girl kept their relationship going regardless of what happened in court.
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