Long-time Barrie catholic high school teacher suspended for verbal, emotional abuse towards students

Long-time Barrie Catholic high school teacher Michael Corradetti has been suspended for seven months after he was found guilty of inappropriate behaviour by the Ontario College of Teachers discipline committee. (Michael Corradetti/Courtesy of Facebook)

Warning: This story includes details that may be disturbing to readers.

A high school teacher in Barrie has been suspended for seven months following years of inappropriate behaviour towards students, which began in 2019.

The Ontario College of Teachers' discipline committee rendered Michael Corradetti, a teacher employed by the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board, guilty of professional misconduct based on the statement of uncontested facts and a plea of no contest during a recent hearing.

Corradetti admitted to several comments deemed inappropriate made to students during the 2019-20 school year.

"What do you want to be? A terrorist?" he asked a male student.

He told his class he "would not acknowledge the pronoun 'ze' or any pronoun other than he/she."

Corradetti also told students there were only two genders and wouldn't acknowledge other genders or gender identifiers. He said people who identify as gender-neutral were stupid.

In front of his class, he asked a female student if she was up late watching Asian porn on her phone.

During the 2020-21 school year, Corradetti made two podcasts publicly available online, with content the discipline committee deemed inappropriate.

Included in the podcast, Corradetti referred to several students by self-given nicknames such as "Gerbil" because of the student's size and "El Chapo" because he looked like he should be in the Mexican cartel. However, he was sure the student wasn't Mexican.

He also admitted on the podcast to asking his class if they use Snapchat for the "dirty stuff or the R-rated stuff?"

That same school year, Corradetti showed his students a video he recorded of himself saying he would be the first person to say all lives matter after referring to Black Lives Matter.

He also recorded himself saying comments about white privilege were racist but could not take offence to the comments because he was white.

Corradetti told his students he did not understand why the "n" word was "tossed around left, right and centre" by hip hop and rap artists without consequence, but he would be in the "hot seat" if he said it.

Along with acknowledging the uncontested facts, which is professional misconduct as defined in the Ontario College of Teachers Act, Corradetti pleaded no contest to allegations of verbal, psychological or emotional abuse and engaging in sexual misconduct.

Within 90 days of the order, June 28, Corradetti must enrol in and complete coursework regarding classroom communication and cultural sensitivity at his own expense.

CTV News reached out to Corradetti for comment, but he denied the request based on the advice of his union representative, who said commenting could result in further reprimand.