Hi,

In Ontario, can a secondary school teacher sue a parent…

Question

Hi,

In Ontario, can a secondary school teacher sue a parent and/or minor student for
slander if they made an accusation of bullying against the teacher falsely.
Saying the teacher bullied the student one time in the hall and the student was
"traumatized and would not agree to be in the teacher's class for an upcoming
course which resulted in the teacher getting written up with a disciplinary
letter put in their file.

The student then was happily present daily in the teacher's class and felt
perfectly comfortable with the teacher ending up doing very well in the class.

Here's the problem, the principal then put the one time incident (which was just
a ruse by the kid) on the teacher's professional evaluation done by the
principal (done every 5 years by whichever principal is present at the time at
the school). So now, the teacher can't apply successfully to new jobs because
the teacher must supply the new school with the most recent professional
evaluation. The evaluation is to be done over one class and about what teaching
practices were evident during that class to the evaluator. This incident with
this student happened months earlier and the student in questions was happily in
the class when the evaluation happened. In other words, this one time, false
accusation is preventing the teacher from getting a new job.

The reason the accusation is baseless as well is that the parent (the mother) in
question's brother works at the same school as a teacher and this colleague says
his sister is crazy and overreacts and the son, his nephew is a liar and
together they will say and do anything to get the kid out of trouble or out of
doing any work or course the kid doesn't want to do. The student thought that
complaining that the teacher bullied him and he was traumatized would get him
out of doing the course. When the student learned that the course was mandatory
and the only other option to being in that class with that teacher was doing it
by himself in resource...suddenly all trauma was gone and he happily went to
class because he didn't want to sit by himself in the resource room.

I'm sure this is coming across in a very convoluted way and I apologize if it's
confusing. I hope you can glean the grounds for my question from it.

Thanks very much

Debra · Accepted Answer

Debra Thal (username) :

Is this a public school or a private school?

Debra Thal (username) :

Are you in a union?

Debra Thal (username) :

Can you prove the mother deliberately lied?

Debra Thal (username) :

How can one child's accusation prevent you from getting a job in the future.
Please explain a bit more.

Debra Thal (username) :

Thanks

Customer:

Public school and yes, in a union.

Customer:

No, the mother did not deliberately lie, the mother overacted and went crazy
wanting the teacher punished for upsetting her teenage son. The son (15/16 yrs
old) lied or exaggerated greatly that the teacher upset him one day before he
was in that teacher's class. Once the son learned that he couldn't get out of
taking the course, he happily joined the class and was fine in it.

Customer:

Every 5 years a teacher received a performance review from their principal. The
principal sits in on one class the teacher teaches and writes up a performance
review on what they observed. The teacher also submits what they're working on
in professional practice that year and it all goes into the final performance
report that the principal writes up. That report stays in the teacher's file for
the next 5 years and this most recent report must be given to future principals
at other schools when applying to a new school for a job.

This principal gave the teacher a wonderful review and performance assessment.
Then in additional comments on the bottom of the report, the principal added
this one incident in from months earlier (a one time accusation/incident ever in
this teachers career). The principal wrote, "Students (he added plural, when
questioned why he gave no answer) feel bullied by teachers use of humour
sometimes." With anti-bullying campaigns being in the forefront these days
having that a teacher makes students feel bullied guarantees they would not get
a teaching job at another school.

Debra Thal (username) :

I understand and I am sorry to hear this.

Debra Thal (username) :

The teacher cannot sue the child as there is no legal way to sue a child.

Debra Thal (username) :

The mother cannot be sued successfully. She did not intend on defaming the
teacher. She acted like any parent did and presented her child's viewpoint.

Debra Thal (username) :

The child may be at fault to a large extent for lying etc but the real fault
lies with the school principal.

Debra Thal (username) :

There was no need to mention this one incident but that may be at this
principal's discretion.

Debra Thal (username) :

But by pluralizing the term "student" the principal essentially exaggerated and
frankly lied and that is where the damage lies.

Debra Thal (username) :

The teacher needs to go to the union and the union has to take this on.

Debra Thal (username) :

This comment must be removed or at least corrected.

Debra Thal (username) :

The union owes the teacher a duty of fair representation.

Debra Thal (username) :

And the union cannot let this go.

Debra Thal (username) :

If the union is not going to deal with this then the teacher may need to consult
with a labour lawyer unfortunately.

Debra Thal (username) :

To find the teacher a lawyer, if necessary, you can contact the Law Society and
use their Lawyer Referral Service. You will be given the name of a lawyer and
can consult with the lawyer and the first half hour will be free.

The number is:

1-800-268-8326 or(NNN) NNN-NNNN(within the GTA)

Hi, In Ontario, can a secondary school teacher sue a parent…

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