Coquitlam elementary school teacher resigns after repeated warnings not to touch students

An elementary school teacher in the Coquitlam school district has resigned over repeated warnings to stop touching his students.

Documents filed by the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation reveal Kevin James Buffel has been warned several times by district officials not to touch his students.

The incidents date back to 2011, and include warnings “not to get physical or have contact with children” and “not to have children sitting in his lap.”

During the investigation, Buffel admitted that in spite of the warnings, he often allowed girls in his classes to sit in his lap, that he sometimes picked them up and that he also hugged them.

Another recent warning concerned Buffel’s school computer.

Investigators say between September 30 of last year and January 13, Buffel had repeatedly used the computer to view a number of websites which included graphic pictures of “private human anatomy” and television shows of a highly sexual nature.

Some of these sites were accessed when Buffel was teaching, according to the documents.

Buffel was suspended with pay on January 20 of this year. He resigned in May and signed an undertaking not to teach in June.