A Vancouver Grade 7 teacher is going to end up being suspended for a total of seven days after inappropriate conduct involving a student.
Several claims were laid out in a public decision posted by the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
The Commissioner named Nathaniel Patrick Hyde as the teacher involved in the decision, and the decision included several examples of conduct that made a Grade 7 student, referred to as Student A in the decision, uncomfortable.
(For the sake of privacy, the decision does not offer a gender for Student A, so we have used they/them pronouns to refer to the student).
All of the events listed in the disciplinary decision occurred during the 2025/2026 school year, while Hyde was teaching a joint Grade 6/7 class. Hyde was working in School District No. 39 at the time.
On Jan. 23, 2026, Hyde gave Student A a sticky note, which the decision states was a practice that Hyde began earlier in the school year.
Student A accidentally dropped the note on the floor.
Later that day, Student A was assisting Hyde to set up the gym “at his request.”
The decision notes that Hyde was sad and had talked to Student A about the note being dropped and how it made him feel.
“Hyde also told Student A that one of their friendships was ‘toxic,’ and that he was not sure if he and Student A could ‘have a relationship,'” the decision states.
On Jan. 26, 2026, Student A spoke to Hyde to say they didn’t intend to drop the sticky note. In response, Hyde asked, “It feels like we have a special connection, right?”
On Jan. 28, 2026, Hyde asked Student A to come with him to the art supply room, which was located by the school parking lot.
Student A thought they heard Hyde use the word romantic while they were in the art room. When Student A asked for clarification about what he said, Hyde asked Student A if “they had a crush on him or something.”
The decision says that the student was upset and shaking after that interaction.
When they returned to class, Hyde approached Student A twice. The first time he approached, he told them he didn’t mean to make them feel uncomfortable. The second time, he said he didn’t want to get fired.
At recess, Student A went to the office and called home, asking to be picked up. Student A’s parent then emailed Hyde, asking to meet.
After school on Jan. 29, Hyde met with the parents and admitted to asking Student A if they had a crush on him. He acknowledged the question was inappropriate.
He tried to explain his behaviour by suggesting there were changes he observed in Student A’s social group and compared himself and his experiences to Student A’s. He also acknowledged that he scared Student A.
On Feb. 1, Hyde texted a parent of Student A and said that the situation wasn’t Student A’s fault.
Student A said that before they reported the events set out in the decision, their perception was that Hyde would get upset if they acted as if they didn’t care about him, and that Hyde compared Student A to his spouse and thought they were similar.
On June 30, 2026, Hyde was suspended without pay for five days. He was also asked to take a course on boundaries at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. He completed the course in August 2026.
After an investigation, the Vancouver teacher agreed to an additional two-day suspension from Oct. 29 to Oct. 30.