A B.C. teacher was hit with a serious ban after engaging in wildly inappropriate behaviour with a student that began during the school year and continued after graduation.
Robert Ian Collett was employed as a school teacher at an independent school in B.C.
On Aug. 15, 2023, the school’s principal made a report to the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, and on May 27, 2024, Collett signed an undertaking not to teach in any role or position requiring a Ministry of Education certificate, independent school teaching certificate, or letter of permission.
The events detailed in the Commissioner’s report refer to a relationship Collett had with Student A.
Student A was taught by Collett in Grade 11 and Grade 12.
At the start of the Grade 12 year, Collett and Student A started exchanging emails that the report suggests are related to school matters.
Those emails turned into exchanges that included romantic and intimate language. The report says “numerous” emails of this nature were exchanged.
Then, after Student A graduated, the pair exchanged emails that contained sexual content.
“Within a month after Student A graduated, Collett and Student A met at a restaurant where they discussed personal matters, and at a park, where he hugged and kissed Student A,” the Commissioner’s report states.
After the park meeting, Student A emailed Collett asking him not to contact them again. A few days later, Collett emailed Student A what the report calls a “good-bye poem.”
On Dec. 13, 2023, the school Collett was teaching at terminated his employment for cause.
Earlier this month, on June 4, Collett entered into a consent resolution agreement with the Commissioner in which he admitted to the inappropriate conduct.
Collett agreed to a 10-year ban.
The Commissioner deemed a 10-year ban an appropriate consequence because Collett’s inappropriate relationship arose out of a teacher-student relationship, and because he demonstrated a “serious failure” to maintain appropriate boundaries. Collett also engaged in conduct that had the potential to compromise the student’s emotional safety and well-being.
You can read the full report on the Commissioner’s website.
Earlier this year, the Commissioner banned a different teacher for 15 years in a similar situation where a teacher engaged in a relationship with a student after that student had graduated.