B.C. teacher who hit Indigenous teen 'on the rear end' with book faces 2-day suspension, mandatory training

A B.C. teacher is facing a two-day licence suspension and has to undergo anti-racism training, nearly three years after she was fired over two physical interactions with Indigenous students.

Deborah Laurie Croft mistreated the students while teaching at an unnamed school, which terminated her employment in June 2020, according to her consent agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

It was posted online Tuesday, and explains that the first event of concern happened on Nov. 5, 2019, and involved a group of students who allegedly refused to leave Croft’s classroom to allow her to prepare for a scheduled meeting there.

“Croft became frustrated, shut the classroom blinds and locked the door from the inside so that other students could not enter,” the regulatory body wrote.

According to the agreement, Croft then pulled at the arm of an Indigenous Grade 11 student and grabbed the teen’s phone from their hands “in an attempt to force them to leave the room.”

The notice explains that three months later, on Feb. 25, 2020, Croft became frustrated with an Indigenous Grade 10 student who was “being disruptive in class, at one point noisily slamming a book shut.”

Croft then asked the student to leave, took a book and hit the teen “on the rear end with it,” according to the agreement.

The student was “visibly upset and reported feeling humiliated afterwards,” the resolution continued.

While determining Croft’s consequences, the commissioner found she failed to treat students with dignity and respect, and acted in a matter “inconsistent with an educator’s responsibility to contribute to truth, reconciliation and healing.”

Croft admitted to the professional misconduct listed in the agreement, and has been given an April 30 deadline to complete a mandatory course about systemic racism in Canada.