VANCOUVER -- A B.C. teacher who made it his "general practice" to copy provincial exams so he could show future students, despite knowing some of the questions could be recycled, has been suspended.
Jay Alexander Kohlman was teaching English in the Vernon school district when he collected and shared content from what are known as "secure exams," according to a disciplinary decision that was posted online this week.
Secure exams are exams that the Ministry of Education hasn't released for use as study aids because the questions could be used again. Each is clearly marked with a note that reads, in part: "Copying, storing or sharing this exam, in part or in whole, is a direct violation of exam security policy."
But despite the warning, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation found Kohlman made it his "general practice to make or obtain a copy of the (exams) when they were given each year and then use them to make sample exams to prepare his students."
The last incident happened while his students were writing the English 12 provincial exam in January 2018. The teacher asked the school's vice-principal if he could look at it "so he could support his students" after the test was over, according to the disciplinary decision.
He then made a copy of the exam – and lied about it when asked by the vice-principal as he was returning the test. He was eventually caught, and the district suspended him for one day without pay in September 2018.
The Commissioner for Teacher Regulation reviewed the incident and decided to also suspend Kohlman's teaching certificate for three days last month, from Dec. 18-20.
