A Saskatchewan teacher has been reprimanded for throwing a whiteboard marker at a student, hitting her above her right eye.
The Saskatchewan Professional Teachers Regulatory Board held a disciplinary hearing last fall for Michel Andre Joseph Levesque after a formal complaint was made.
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The decision, posted on the board’s website, says Levesque threw the marker to get a disruptive student’s attention in a Grade 9 shop class on Nov. 15, 2015.
Instead, it hit another student above her right eye, causing a cut and swelling.
The discipline committee found Levesque guilty of misconduct and ordered Levesque to pay $10,000, or about 20 per cent, of the cost of the hearing within 30 days or have his teaching licence suspended.
The board would not confirm if Levesque paid the penalty, but the public registry does not show him as a registered teacher.
“After a number of unsuccessful attempts to secure the attention of the inattentive student, and feeling rather stressed, I picked up a whiteboard marker and tossed it in the direction in order to get his attention, not to injure him,” Levesque told the disciplinary hearing.
“Under normal circumstances, I would simply walk over to the student and address the behaviour directly. However, a recent foot injury made walking difficult, and I chose, unwisely, to obtain his attention in a manner which I now deeply regret.”
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The decision also acknowledged Levesque was having a bad day after waking up early with an allergic reaction to medication and not getting a good night’s sleep.
The girl said Levesque was “angry” and “whipped” the marker at her. Her mother took her to the police station, and photographs her father took within an hour of the incident showed a red mark on her forehead, with some swelling surrounding the abrasion.
“The incident caused loss of dignity and humiliated Student A,” the decision said, adding “throwing an object at a disruptive student is not appropriate classroom management.”
The decision does not say what school this happened at.
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