Lifetime teaching ban for B.C. vice-principal convicted on child porn charges

Police say former vice-principal Michael Haire, 38, was employed by the Abbotsford School District for 12 years. (Handout)

A former vice-principal from B.C.'s Fraser Valley has been handed a lifetime teaching ban, months after he was convicted on child pornography charges.

Counts of possessing child pornography and making child pornography available were approved against Michael Larence Haire back in 2018, and he was found guilty and sentenced to spend 20 months behind bars earlier this year.

When authorities began investigating Haire four years ago, he was working at a middle school in Abbotsford. He resigned days after the charges were announced.

Since Haire's conviction, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation has issued the former vice-principal a ban on teaching at any school, from kindergarten through Grade 12, either public or private, for the rest of his life.

In a consent resolution agreement published online Tuesday, commissioner Howard L. Kushner described Haire's conduct as "at the serious end of the spectrum," and said the vice-principal "failed to maintain the integrity of the teaching profession by violating laws that protect minors from sexual exploitation."

The document notes that after Haire's jail term is complete, he'll be on probation for three years. He will also remain on the National Sex Offender Information Registry for life.