Three B.C. teachers reprimanded for bad behaviour

Three teachers in B.C. are facing consequences from the Teacher Regulation Branch after acting out in varying incidents.

In Surrey, Donald Joseph Camozzi, an on-call teacher, told a student that his Halloween costume was better than hers — pointing at the student’s hijab.

The student told him the comment wasn’t funny but a classmate said they thought it was funny — to which Camozzi told Student A — Student B thinks it’s funny.

Camozzi is now facing a reprimand for making insensitive comments.

According to documents from the regulation branch, Camozzi has been part of similar incidents in the past, but the details of those incidents were not released.

Further east, in the Fraser-Cascade School District, another teacher is in trouble for throwing a computer charger at a student.

Documents from the Teacher Regulation Branch state that Justin Arnesto threw the charger because he believed a Grade 8 student wasn’t paying attention in class.

Luckily, the charger didn’t hit the student.

But when the student told Arnesto they were going to tell the principal, Arnesto tried to convince them it wouldn’t make any difference and the principal would take the teacher’s side.

A separate incident a couple months later involved Arnesto breaking a pencil and throwing it towards a student.

Arnesto was suspended for one day last year and the regulation branch has now handed him an additional three day suspension.

Up north, near Williams Lake, a teacher in the Cariboo-Chilcotin School District has been suspended for three days after physically grabbing a Grade 2 student.

According to the Teacher Regulation Branch, the student had painted some graffiti on the outside of the school and when teacher Wendy Anne Bernier tried to take a photo of it, the student tried to block the teacher’s view. Bernier subsequently grabbed the student and pulled them out of the way.

Documents state the student then fell to the floor and cried, as some students began teasing them, and others reported feeling nervous and scared by what they’d seen.

This is the third time Bernier has been accused of physically handling students.

The Teacher Regulation Branch is part of the BC Teachers’ Federation, and regulates the professionalism and competency of the federation’s members, which are mostly teachers.