B.C. Catholic school principal ‘arbitrarily and preferentially’ changed student’s final grade

The headquarters of Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese is seen in this photo from the organization's website. (cisvaschools.ca)

The principal of a B.C. Catholic school has received a brief suspension after admitting to “arbitrarily and preferentially” manipulating a student’s report card.

Roger Lionel Joseph DesLauriers made the admission in a consent resolution agreement with the provincial Commissioner for Teacher Regulation. A summary of the agreement was published online Tuesday.

According to the document, DesLauriers “changed a student’s final grade in a subject class arbitrarily and preferentially from 56 (per cent) to 76 (per cent).”

He did so “without the participation of the subject teacher, who requested not to be part of the process” and without investigating or considering “the student’s overall academic performance in relation to the learning outcomes for the subject class in determining the extent of the grade change,” the summary indicates.

The document does not say where in the province DesLauriers was employed when this misconduct occurred, only that he was working as “a principal at a Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese secondary school.”

The student’s name and the subject class are also withheld, as is the academic year in which the grade manipulation occurred, though the document indicates the CISVA made its report to the commissioner about the incident in May 2024.

Around the same time, the CISVA disciplined DesLauriers, issuing him a written reprimand and requiring him to complete an ethics course.

It also required his school to “prepare written guidelines for the handling of requests to review a student’s grade” for approval by the CISVA superintendent’s office, according to the summary of the consent agreement.

The summary notes he completed the ethics course and agreed to a two-day suspension of his teaching certificate, which the commissioner imposed.

“DesLauriers’ conduct raises concerns regarding his ethics, professionalism and integrity and had the effect of treating students inequitably,” the summary reads, describing the reasons the commissioner felt a suspension and remedial coursework were appropriate punishments for the principal.

“His conduct failed to model appropriate behaviour.”

The summary also notes that DesLauriers’ misconduct was “a single incident and not a pattern of behaviour,” and that he “accepts responsibility for his actions.”