An elementary school teacher with the Langley School District is facing a four-month suspension following misconduct that included yelling at and making inappropriate comments to students in his classroom.
Daniel Lee admitted to “professional misconduct” in multiple incidents that took place over several years, and will now serve his suspension from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018, according to a consent resolution agreement by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
This is the second suspension Lee has received as a teacher in Langley.
According to the agreement, incidents date back to 2010, when Lee received a verbal warning for yelling at students in his class, and “deliberately” pushing a pile of books into a student’s chest, causing him to cry.
Three years later, in 2013 the Superintendent made a report to the Commissioner about Lee’s behaviour, citing nine separate incidents.
Then teaching a Grade 4/5 split class, Lee is said to have grabbed a student’s hand while she was typing because she was not following his instructions, raised his voice and been visibly angry while teaching, threw erasers, balls of masking tape and tennis balls at students as a form of punishment or to get their attention and other similar acts.
In June 2013, Lee was issued a letter of discipline and suspended without pay for four months. He was also required to enroll in a classroom management course, a boundaries course and an anger management course.
After successfully completing the courses, he returned to teaching, but was written up again in 2016.
According to the agreement, on Nov. 2, 2015, over a span of approximately 15 minutes, Lee yelled at a Grade 4 student for writing with her elbow on her desk and her hand supporting her chin. He threatened to remove her chair and her desk if she did not stop. He then ordered her to stand at the back of the class with her back against the wall, and said “you have a backbone/spine, use it!”
Lee has been on medical leave from the school district since Nov. 9, 2015, the agreement says.
miranda@langleytimes.com
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