A Durham Region teacher is scheduled to face a disciplinary hearing because of multiple retweets he allegedly sent out on Twitter in 2017.
The investigation is being carried out by the Ontario College of Teachers.
In documents from the OCT, Lucas Thad McDonald, a teacher at Eastdale Collegiate and Vocational Institute, is accused of re-tweeting Islamophobic and anti-LGBTQ2 content on several occasions.
The Ontario College of Teachers is now investigating to determine if McDonald’s alleged actions constitute professional misconduct.
In the notice of hearing from the investigative committee of the OCT, McDonald is alleged to have “engaged in inappropriate communications via Twitter.”
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Those communications included re-tweets allegedly “suggesting that gender variations other than male or female should be considered mental disorders,” the document said.
McDonald also allegedly retweeted content that “suggested that actions should be taken against Muslims in Canada” and content that “suggested that Canada’s multicultural reality is undesirable.”
In total, there are 13 alleged messages of a similar nature.
McDonald was reported by a concerned parent at the school. Durham District School Board confirmed in an email that McDonald still worked for the faculty.
“The teacher in question is still employed with Durham District School Board. We do know the issues raised have been appropriately managed,” the email said.
Global News attempted to get comment from McDonald, who declined to speak on camera. However, he denied any misconduct in an email.
“I continue to deny any allegations that i engaged into professional misconduct with the re-tweets,” McDonald said in the email. “I look forward to the scheduled hearing during which the allegations against me can be properly examined.”
McDonald is scheduled to appear before the Ontario College of Teachers on a date still to be determined. The college will then decide if he engaged in professional misconduct.
If so, the college can take a number of actions, including revoking his certification.
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