“You’re not smart enough”: years before you can protect students from a humiliating teacher

A teacher who humiliated his students as “not smart enough” continued to teach for years before being removed from classes, despite a petition from parents and a ministry investigation.

“How many children will he destroy?” asks Nancy Collin.

Friday, The Journal published extracts from a damning report from the Ministry of Education about a school in the Montreal School Services Center (CSS) with a toxic climate where eleven teachers are under investigation.

However, it is not the only CSS which struggles to protect its students, testify three mothers from Pointe-de-l’Île, two of whom have their faces uncovered.

“The slowness of the process, that’s what’s crazy,” says Annie Pinet indignantly.

In November 2022, M^me Pinet filed a complaint with the Ministry of Education for psychological violence against a teacher of 5^e year at Notre-Dame school, in Pointe-aux-Trembles.

It was only almost two years after this complaint that the teacher was finally removed from the classroom.

Crash

In the fall of 2022, several parents had noticed a change in behavior in their child: crying or panic attacks, fear of going to school.

“He called us incapable,” remembers Ryan Horvath, now 12 years old.

“When we went to the board, he said we were bad,” says Alex Deguire, also 12 years old.

It all came to a head on November 11, 2022, when the teacher allegedly “screwed up.” The majority of children left the room, several of them crying, to confide in a specialized educator.

The same day, 14 parents representing 11 of the 19 students in the group signed a petition calling for the teacher’s removal.

“Serious misconduct”

The professor, who cannot be named given the confidentiality of the file, had been legally qualified since 2009.

He did not return to Notre-Dame school after the events of November 2022 due to illness. He received a five-day suspension, effective in 2023, when he took up a position at another school.

In spring 2024, M^me Pinet was finally questioned by the ministry. The school management and the targeted teacher were also met.

In its report, the investigation committee concluded that the teacher committed “serious misconduct”.

For example, he would have already said in class “that he would take three students on an outing, but not the others because they were not intelligent enough”, we can read in the document, which was able to obtain The Journal.

Since 2012

The report reveals that he had accumulated administrative letters and disciplinary warnings since 2012 for his actions in three different schools.

Today, the mothers interviewed still observe after-effects in their boys, such as difficulty trusting adults in authority.

To this day, Annie Pinet has still not had confirmation that the teacher’s teaching certificate was going to be withdrawn.

The office of Minister Bernard Drainville indicates that it has already made a decision in the matter, but cannot comment.

For its part, the CSS de la Pointe-de-l’Île indicates that administrative measures have been taken and that the teacher is no longer in contact with students. However, it was not possible to know when this measure came into force.

Last Wednesday, it was still possible to call his new school and leave a message. The person who took the message asked if the subject of the call was about a student, suggesting the teacher was still in contact with students recently.

The lawyer representing the teacher did not respond to our request for an interview.

Some words from the teacher reported in the petition

• “You guys are so slow, I’m sure the other classes are all finished already.”
• “You have mental problems.”
• “Don’t you understand yet? You manage on your own.”
• “You can go and complain and report what you want, it doesn’t bother me, because I have a union that protects me.”
• “I don’t know how I’m going to put up with you all year.”