B.C. teacher suspended after ‘pursuing’ student from other school for ‘personal relationship,’ document says

File: An empty classroom is seen at a Vancouver high school in September 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)

A teacher from B.C.’s Lower Mainland has been handed a four-day suspension over an incident that left a student from another school visibly uncomfortable.

Duane Oliver Kirkpatrick was “pursuing” the 17-year-old “for the purposes of a personal relationship,” according to a consent agreement he signed with B.C.’s Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

The encounter happened in December 2021, while Kirkpatrick was working at a high school in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District. The document does not specify how old the teacher was at the time.

The teenager, referred to as “Student A” in the agreement, was a senior at a different local school.

The two had never met before Kirkpatrick came into a beer market and bistro where the student was working and sparked up a conversation.

According to the consent agreement, they talked for “at least half an hour,” during which Kirkpatrick complimented the student’s hair, and was told the student’s age.

After being let off work early, the teenager “mentioned that they would be going to Walmart to wait for their boyfriend to pick them up,” the document reads.

“A short time later, Kirkpatrick appeared at the Walmart, in the same aisle as Student A,” it continues. “Kirkpatrick told Student A that he was there to pick up some toiletries, although he did not have a shopping basket and ultimately never purchased anything.”

During the conversation that followed, Kirkpatrick touched the teenager’s shoulder, “flicked” their forehead, and at one point unhooked their facemask so the student could smell a candle, according to the agreement.

“Kirkpatrick saw that Student A looked concerned as he did this. Kirkpatrick then asked Student A if Student A had a boyfriend,” it reads.

The teenager was “very uncomfortable at this point,” but stayed at the Walmart until their boyfriend arrived. Before the student left, Kirkpatrick asked for their phone number, and the student reiterated that they were 17 and in a relationship, according to the document.

After learning of the incident, the school district suspended the teacher for 10 days without pay, issued him a letter of discipline, and had him attend a boundaries workshop. Administrators also required that Kirkpatrick participate in monitoring and check-ins.

The B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation ordered a subsequent investigation, and last month decided to issue Kirkpatrick a further suspension of four days.

One of the factors considered in deciding the teacher’s punishment was that he was “persistent in his conduct” with the student when it “should have been apparent to him that it was unwelcome,” according to the consent agreement.