Top teacher watchdog who wrote porn resigns

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Jacques Tremblay

Supplied photo

Kevin Donovan Staff Reporter

 

Ontario’s top teacher watchdog has quit.
Jacques Tremblay, who the Star reported was a writer of soft porn replete with questionable administrator-teacher-student conduct, resigned Tuesday. He was the chairperson for five years of the Ontario College of Teachers’ disciplinary panel, which sits in judgment on hundreds of teachers accused of misconduct.
A respected retired judge already looking into discipline problems at the College has been asked to probe the Tremblay situation.
Ontario College of Teachers council chair Liz Papadopoulos said Tremblay tendered his resignation Tuesday because he was afraid staying at the College would hurt the institution.
Tremblay “made this choice out of concern that the public perception of matters raised today in the media could lead to an erosion of the public’s confidence in the College and its work,” said Papadopoulos.
Tremblay has resigned both from the discipline job and his role as member of the College’s elected council, which oversees all matters related to teachers in Ontario. Teachers self-regulate themselves through the council.
As part of an ongoing investigation into teacher conduct and discipline, the Star reported Tuesday morning that Tremblay co-wrote and published a book called The Sexteens and the Fake Goddess. Tremblay told his book was intended to start a dialogue between parents and teachers and to empower teens.
The Star read the book and discovered:
 •  A deputy headmaster (Mr. Harry Dick) who covered up a Grade 9 girl’s allegation of a sexual attack because he did not want to lose donations from the father of the alleged attacker. The deputy also told students he would like to sleep with all of them if he was younger.
 •  Teachers raising marks for a girl who flirted with them.
 •  Page after page of teen girls stripping for boys, being spanked by a fly swatter until blood is drawn, and lots of fondling and orgasms.
Papadopoulos would not consent to an interview Wednesday. Neither would College registrar Michael Salvatori. Spokesperson Brian Jamieson said they “have no further comment.”
In her written statement, the chair of the College she said she accepted Tremblay’s resignation and added, “the College makes every effort to maintain public confidence in the teaching profession’s self-regulatory process.”
Tremblay is a teacher in eastern Ontario and, like other College members, took time off from teaching duties to conduct work for the College. They are paid a stipend, but the Star could not find out how much.
The Star’s investigation has found serious problems with the College’s disciplinary process and a habit among some school boards to move problem teachers around, known as “passing the trash” among good teachers.
At the College, the Star found many cases are done in secret and in some cases teachers who seriously mistreated students were allowed to keep their jobs after only a reprimand or short suspension. The public interest committee of the College recommended on Tuesday that secrecy of some discipline cases be lifted. That committee made the recommendation three years ago but it was ignored by the College’s Council.
Since the series on discipline began appearing in the Star on Friday, hundreds of teachers and parents have contacted the paper.
Some teachers are upset that publication of the details of discipline cases in the Star hurts the reputation of all teachers. Other teachers have applauded the stories, saying they do not like bad apples teaching next to them and wish the College would be tougher.
Parents have written to the paper saying the College needs to be more open with how it disciplines teachers.
Just before Labour Day, after we started asking questions of the College, it quietly hired a retired judge to probe disciplinary practices of the watchdog. Patrick LeSage, former chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, has been given until May to complete his review.
“If there are any flaws in our practices, we want to fix them,” the College said in a statement.