Teacher overheard saying he wanted to beat students 'to death' using another student

An empty classroom is seen in this file photo. (The Canadian Press)

VANCOUVER – A B.C. substitute teacher has been suspended after he was overheard making some wildly inappropriate remarks during a field trip.

Joshua Frederick Roland Laurin was working for the Campbell River School District back in November 2018 when he agreed to accompany a class of Grade 8 students on their field trip.

But after they left school, Laurin made a number of questionable remarks that were overheard by the children – including that he "did not like his job or being around kids," according to a disciplinary decision that was posted online this week.

More troublingly, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation found Laurin said "he would like to use one of the students on the field trip to beat two other students to death and to injure a third one."

"After the field trip, when the students were back in the classroom, Laurin commented that if he was going to die the following day, he would want to hurt students as he would not then get into any trouble," the disciplinary decision reads.

Students reported they thought the substitute teacher was joking, but said they still felt shocked by the remarks.

After learning about what happened, the district issued Laurin a letter of discipline and suspended him from its teacher-on-call list for three weeks. The teacher was also ordered to complete a course at the Justice Institute of B.C. called "Reinforcing Professional Boundaries," which he did in March of this year.

Given the extent of Laurin's previous punishments, the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation opted to only suspend his teaching certificate for a single day, which took place in October.