BC teacher suspended for copying and giving exam material to students

A BC teacher was suspended for three days last month, after it was revealed that he had provided students with provincial exam material that he had copied, and then lied to administration about his actions.

The decision followed a complaint that was made to the British Columbia Commission for Teacher Regulation (BCCTC) regarding Jay Kohlman, a teacher in the Vernon school district, who at the time was teaching three different English classes.

According to BCCTC documents, during the 2017/2018 school year, Kohlman distributed a sample exam to his students to help them prepare for a provincial exam. However, the sample exam “included content from English 12 Provincial Examinations, which had been previously given” but which had not been released by the ministry of education as study aids.

In its decision, the BCCTC said Kohlman “used content from secure exams to prepare his students, even though he was aware that the Ministry of Education re-used readings and questions from the secure exams.”

During an investigation into his actions, “Kohlman was asked whether he had used any content from a secure exam to prepare his students, and he said that he had not, which he knew was not true.”

On September 5, 2018, the school district disciplined Kohlman by suspending him for one day without pay.”

Then on June 7, 2019, the commissioner proposed a consent resolution with Kohlman in which he agreed to a “suspension of his certificate of qualification for three days…from December 18, 2019 to December 20, 2019 inclusive.”

In determining the suspension, the BCCTC said Kohlman’s dishonesty in the incident played a factor in the judgement process.