By Maggie Macintosh | Winnipeg Free Press
A police officer, a First Nations lawyer and a community-health program manager are among a dozen people who’ve been chosen to serve as panellists in disciplinary cases involving teachers under a new Manitoba Education Department professional registry and complaint process.
Bobbi Taillefer, the province’s first independent education commissioner, has the discretion to dismiss or investigate reports made regarding allegations of improper teacher conduct. Calling a disciplinary panel is one of the options available to her.
The new system, which is intended to increase transparency to the disciplinary process, launched just over a week ago online (edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/commissioner). Members of the public and employers are able to flag incidents to the commissioner’s office via separate forms available on the web page. There is also a self-reporting option for certified teachers and clinicians.
Taillefer told the Free Press her expectation is that all submissions will be accompanied with a name and contact information, although she will not immediately dismiss anonymous tips.
“This is a high-stakes process … these are people’s names, careers, and so it has to be a process in which everybody — the complainant, the respondent, the employer, even (the Manitoba Teachers’ Society) — all feel that everybody is getting fair treatment,” said Taillefer, a francophone teacher from Winnipeg who has spent the last 25 years in union support and management roles.
There were no official complaints received during the first week, she said, noting that an employer did, however, report a situation that was already known to the education department.
“We are ready, so if anything comes forward we have people in place and in fact the nominees just came through for (disciplinary hearing) panels,” she said, adding each of the 12 volunteers who were selected hold “impressive” resumés.
A panel must include at least three members, one of whom must be a certified teacher, one person nominated by the school boards association and at least one public representative, per provincial legislation.
Disciplinary proceedings, which previously took place in private under the purview of MTS, which represents nearly 17,000 public-school teachers in the province, are expected to happen online and be made available to the public.
Panellists will be called to volunteer as the need arises on a rotating basis and with consideration of their availability.
“You want to make sure you have high-quality learning and teaching that goes on, and that depends hugely on the educators,” said Vinh Huynh, a veteran public school principal and father of three children, including two high schoolers, in Winnipeg.
“We have to ensure teachers are, first and foremost, competent, committed and compassionate in doing that work.”
Huynh — a professional teacher certificate holder in good standing — was endorsed by the teachers’ union to be one of its three disciplinary panel representatives under the new system.
There are 111 names on the Education Department’s list of individuals who have had their licence either suspended or cancelled during their career; there are few details, aside from name, date of decision and, if applicable, reinstatement.
Huynh noted there is confusion regarding issues related to competence in the legislation that laid the groundwork for the registry and public hearing processes.
The school administrator said he is aligned with the teachers’ union in his belief that conduct and competency are different matters that require separate processes.
There are ongoing consultations between Manitoba’s Professional Certification Unit and stakeholders such as the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, superintendents and MTS, whose leaders have been critical of the registry over concerns about member privacy.
Taillefer said the main worries that have been raised in recent weeks are a product of catastrophizing or, as she put it, “the human condition,” and do not have much merit.
There are fears about a slew of historical complaints that will be difficult to substantiate and others that are simply difficult, she said.
She acknowledged that any change in practice over which someone has no control can be anxiety-inducing, so meetings continue to get everyone in the education sector familiar with the new processes.
“There’s an important balance to strike here,” said Bruce Strang, a history professor at Brandon University who is on the roster of public representative panellists and has previously worked in various union leadership roles and as a post-secondary school administrator.
Strang said students need to be protected and, in some cases, the safety of other colleagues and school communities at large will likely come into question, but there also needs to be a structure for evidence to be rigorously examined.
He added his training in labour relations and experience on the Municipal Board, a quasi-judicial administrative body that issues decisions on landowner and citizen challenges to local government policies and plans, will come in handy, should he be called to serve on a panel.
Charles Cochrane called it a personal honour to be named a panellist, as well as a wider honour that “our First Nation people are being recognized more and more in the provincial context.”
The executive director of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre recalled his colleagues who work for the centre and oversee its school board sharing the perspective that the registry was “very progressive” after it was first announced.
“It will be a good tool to use to make sure we look at hiring people that are in good standing,” added Cochrane, one of four employer representatives named to the list.
The commissioner of teacher professional conduct can be reached via email: [email protected].
