B.C. teacher suspended again after student injured, glasses broken during gym class

A Vancouver Island teacher's professional certification will be suspended for three days this month after he encouraged students in his Grade 9 gym class to hit each other with pool noodles, breaking one child's glasses. (iStock)

A Vancouver Island teacher's professional certification will be suspended for three days this month after he encouraged students in his Grade 9 gym class to hit each other with pool noodles, breaking one child's glasses.

The decision published Tuesday by the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation marks the second time the commissioner has suspended Russell Bodnar's teaching certificate in the past 15 months.

According to the details of the consent resolution agreement signed by the teacher and the regulator, the trouble began when students in Bodnar's class were playing a game of hockey using pool noodles instead of sticks.

"Bodnar encouraged those students playing the game to use the pool noodles to hit one another," the agreement says. "During this activity, Bodnar was looking on and encouraging the students by saying things like 'Beat him! Get him! You can get him!' and encouraging students being hit to 'fight back' with their pool noodle."

The Pacific Rim school district teacher asked the students not to hit each other in the head, but they did anyway. One student was hit in the face repeatedly, knocking the glasses off their face and breaking them, according to the agreement.

"(The student's) face was also red and bruised at the time, which may have become apparent later in the day," the agreement says. "Bodnar was aware that (the student's) glasses had been broken, and even commented that (the student) had been hit 'pretty hard,' but Bodnar did not follow up with (the student) to ensure that (the student) was not otherwise injured."

The agreement states the teacher did not file an incident report or otherwise alert school administrators to the incident, nor did he tell the student's parents why their glasses were broken.

The Pacific Rim school district immediately issued a letter of discipline to the teacher and suspended him for five days without pay.

Prior suspensions noted

The provincial regulator noted in the agreement that Bodnar has two prior suspensions from the school district due to his behaviour.

In July 2021, the district suspended the teacher for four days without pay after he allegedly made inappropriate comments to students and encouraged his Grade 8 students to "twerk" during gym class.

In December of that year, Bodnar was again suspended by the district for three days without pay and was removed from his coaching role for using a student to demonstrate a technique during an athletic practice, without the student's consent. In addition to the suspension from the district, the B.C. regulator suspended Bodnar's teaching qualification in December 2022 for one day following the complaint.

Under the consent resolution agreement published Tuesday, Bodnar admitted his recent behaviour constituted professional misconduct contrary to the professional standards for educators in B.C.

As a result, his certificate will be suspended from March 13 to March 15, and he will complete a course on creating a positive learning environment through the Justice Institute of B.C. before the end of August.