Hearings

Panels of the Discipline Committee have ordered summaries of recent disciplinary cases to be published in Professionally Speaking.

Member: Kevin Edward Burrows
Registration Number: 180014
Decision: Certificates Revoked

A panel of the Discipline Committee held a public hearing on June 13, 2005, into allegations of professional misconduct against Kevin Edward Burrows. Burrows was certified to teach in 1996 and was employed as a teacher by a private school in Japan. Burrows attended the hearing and was represented by counsel.

The member faced five allegations of professional misconduct related to viewing and possessing pornography involving persons under 18 years of age.

The panel received an agreed statement of facts in which Burrows admitted that, between January 2000 and April 2003, he used a laptop computer made available by the school to access through the Internet and download to the computer's hard disk pornographic material that included images of persons under 18 years of age engaged in explicit sexual acts. He also acquired similar pornographic images from magazines, video tapes and computer compact discs.

In March 2003, Burrows shipped boxes of personal belongings to Canada. In April, he was informed that the boxes he had shipped contained pornographic images, including about 5,000 images depicting child nudity or erotica, contained on five computer discs. When the member attempted to regain possession of his belongings from the carriers who shipped them to Canada, he was charged under the Criminal Code with importing child pornography. Burrows was acquitted of these criminal charges.

In June 2004, Burrows admitted under oath at trial that between 2000 and 2003, while under the influence of alcohol, he used the computer to access and download pornographic images involving persons under 18.

A psychologist who assessed Burrows reported that he expressed a degree of personal concern regarding his acquisition of pornographic material. The psychologist found that despite the fact that Burrows possessed pornographic images of underage girls, there was no evidence he had ever engaged in sexual activities with minors or that he was a risk to children.

Burrows pleaded no contest to the facts as presented in the agreed statement of facts.

Burrows told the panel at his hearing that pornography was much more prevalent in Japan than in Canada and that Japanese culture does not distinguish between adult and child pornography.

He also said that drinking to excess was part of Japanese culture. He claimed that he believed that foreigners in Japan should live as the Japanese and that he began to drink heavily and access pornography through an Internet news group.

Burrows said he looked at pornography out of curiosity and he would download a whole news group's content at once and not necessarily know what was in it.

When he eventually decided to return to Canada, his last days there were hectic and he packed his belongings believing he had gotten rid of the pornographic materials.

Burrows's counsel argued for a six-month suspension, but College counsel asked that his Certificates of Qualification and Registration be revoked. College counsel argued that the sheer quantity of child pornography images in Burrows's possession proved that his reason for acquiring them went beyond curiosity. Counsel also argued that since Burrows was born and educated in Canada, his statement that he did not know child pornography was wrong was not believable.

The panel found that evidence at Burrows's trial showed him in possession of images that included adults engaging in sexual acts with pre-pubescent children, images of child erotica and child nudity. The panel found inconsistencies and contradictions in Burrows's testimony and that his acquisition of child pornography over a three-year period indicated he did not have children's best interests in mind. The panel felt that this type of behaviour perpetuates the sexual abuse of children and such a person should not be in a position of trust over children.

The panel found the member guilty of professional misconduct and ordered his Certificates of Qualification and Registration revoked.

The decision of the panel appears on the College's public register.

Member: Rob Roque
Registration Number: 437336
Decision: Admonishment

A panel of the Discipline Committee held a public hearing on August 30, 2005, into allegations of professional misconduct against Rob Roque. Roque was certified to teach in 2000 and was employed as an occasional teacher by the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic District School Board. The member attended the hearing and was not represented by counsel.

The member faced five allegations of professional misconduct related to inappropriate conversations and behaviour with students.

College counsel submitted a memorandum of agreement (MOA) containing an agreed statement of facts and joint submission on penalty.

The panel heard that during the 2003-04 school year, Roque discussed matters of a highly personal nature with his students about past sexual experiences and negative feelings about his ex-wife. He made disparaging remarks about students and staff. He showed favouritism to some female students, such as buying them lunch, sharing key test answers with them and giving them higher than warranted marks, and taking them from other classes so they could spend time with him in his classroom during his prep and evaluation period. He made students uncomfortable by presenting material of a sexual nature that was unrelated to the curriculum and told students not to repeat to other adults what they heard in his class because he might get into trouble.

Roque admitted to the allegations and pleaded guilty to professional misconduct.

The panel accepted the joint submission on penalty. The panel ordered that Roque be admonished and that he complete within 90 days, at his own expense, a course of instruction approved by the Registrar regarding maintaining appropriate boundaries with students. Roque must also provide the Registrar, within six months, with a copy of a report prepared by a practitioner, indicating whether he recognizes the need for teachers to set and maintain appropriate teacher-student boundaries.

Roque must notify the Registrar immediately of any additional complaints against him of a similar nature made to his employer and provide the Registrar with a copy of his next Teacher Performance Appraisal within 30 days of its completion.

The decision of the panel appears on the College's public register.

Member: Michael Travers
Registration Number: 223176
Decision: Certificates Revoked

A panel of the Discipline Committee held a public hearing on October 25, 2004, and January 13, 2005, into allegations of professional misconduct against Michael Travers. Travers was certified to teach in 1972 and was employed as a teacher by the District School Board of Niagara. Travers did not attend the hearing and was not represented by counsel.

The member faced six allegations of professional misconduct related to a sexual relationship with a female student.

The panel received a memorandum of agreement in which Travers admitted that during the 1973-74 school year and the preceding summer, he had engaged in a sexual relationship with a Grade 13 female student of the school where he taught. During the course of the relationship, Travers discussed marriage with the student and told another male teacher employed by the same board about the relationship.

The panel found Travers guilty of professional misconduct and ordered that his Certificates of Qualification and Registration be revoked.

Under the terms of the memorandum of agreement, Travers agreed to a condition that he not be allowed to apply for reinstatement for a period of two years.

The panel asked both parties to the agreement to consider a modification that would raise the period to 10 years. Travers did not agree to vary the terms of the agreement, noting in a letter to the panel that he had already made a written commitment to the College that he would not return to Canada to teach or live. A majority of the panel approved the memorandum of agreement as it stood.

The decision of the panel appears on the College's public register.

Member: Julia Ann Webb
Registration Number: 252725
Decision: Certificates Suspended

A panel of the Discipline Committee held a public hearing on January 27, 2003, into allegations of professional misconduct and/or incompetence against Julia Ann Webb. Webb was certified to teach in 1985 and was employed as a teacher by the Thames Valley District School Board. The member was present for the hearing and was represented by counsel.

Webb faced six allegations of professional misconduct related to a sexual relationship with an 18-year-old male high school student.

The panel accepted evidence that in May or June 1994, Webb, who was 34 years old at the time, began an inappropriate relationship with the student, who had been in her home room and English classes during the first semester. This relationship included going on long walks with him and meeting him off school premises. On June 25, 1994, Webb and the student had sexual intercourse following a party.

Webb continued the relationship, taking the student for drives in her car and engaging in at least one other act of sexual intercourse in mid-July 1994, following which the relationship between them terminated.

Webb was suspended for one semester by her school board for the relationship with the student and was required to undergo a psychological assessment. The psychologist concluded that Webb did not pose a threat to students and would likely not engage in sexually inappropriate behaviour with another student.

The panel found Webb guilty of professional misconduct and directed the Registrar to suspend her teaching certificate for one year, including the seven months suspension imposed by her board. The remaining five months of the suspension were not to be imposed if the member undertook, at her own expense, a boundary violations course within six months of the date of the panel's decision. Webb was also required to meet quarterly for one year with a counsellor who would report to the Registrar to confirm that the member is unlikely to reoffend. The panel also ordered that Webb be reprimanded.

Publication of this decision was delayed pending the outcome of an appeal by the College of the panel's decision on penalty. The College's appeal to the Divisional Court was dismissed, but the Court said that a suspension could not be made retroactive as the panel had ordered in this case.

The decision of the panel appears on the College's public register.

Glossary of terminology

The vocabulary used to report disciplinary hearings reflects their quasi-judicial nature. If you wonder what some terms mean, help is at hand.

For past and future reference, the College has posted a glossary of terms on its web site. A link to the glossary can be found on the decision-summary page.

Visit www.oct.ca Investigations/Hearings Hearing Decision Summaries Glossary of Terms.

Professionally Speaking reported the first College disciplinary hearings in the June 1998 edition.

Summaries are also posted on the College web site at www.oct.ca.