A high school teacher from Mission, B.C. has been fired and had his teaching certificate suspended after he went into a colleague's house without her permission.
Michael Scott Alexander entered the unidentified woman's home twice in the spring of 2016, using a key she kept hidden on the property to get through her locked gate, according to a disciplinary ruling from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.
The woman was an on-call teacher who had worked with Alexander before and socialized with him on occasion.
But she had no idea he was entering her home, and the intrusion "had significant impact" on her, the commissioner found.
Alexander went to the house in April 25 and May 5 of that year, getting inside through an unlocked door. The day before the second incident, Alexander texted the woman asking if she was available to work and was turned down.
"(The teacher) advised Alexander that she was already working that day and was not available for assignment to his class," the disciplinary ruling reads.
The next day, he drove 20 minutes to her property during a preparation block, and didn't tell the office where he was going. The Mission school district allows teachers to leave school grounds during those blocks, but expects them to let someone know.
"Further, it is a general expectation of the District that the activity the teacher is doing off-site is related to their normal preparation," the commissioner wrote.
His reasons for going to the property are not specified in the ruling.
Alexander was discovered because one of the woman's neighbours saw him letting himself into the house, and he was reported to police.
He was later charged with mischief under $5,000 and being unlawfully in a dwelling. He pleaded guilty to mischief and given a conditional discharge, while the other count was stayed. The district fired him in February 2018.
The B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decided to suspend his teaching certificate for two weeks as well, from May 6 to May 17, 2019.
Among the factors considered was that Alexander's conduct "brings the teaching profession into disrepute," according to the ruling.
