CRIME FORMER TEACHER LOSES LICENCE FOR HAVING SEX WITH STUDENT BAMBANG SADEWO bsadewo@metroland.com A former Georgetown District High School teach- er had his teaching licence revoked after a disciplin- ary hearing panel at the Ontario College of Teach- that involves sexual abuse of a student. rren nsfield who was not present and had no legal presentation — ple: aded guilty and admitted to the allegations, according to agreed statement of facts read at the April 21 hearing. Counsel for the college, Danielle Miller, told the panel that by pleading raed Mansfield was waiv- the right to require the college to prove the case against him and that he ac- knowledged he's executing the agreed statement of facts and guilty plea volun- tarily — ing had the chance to obtain legal ad- vice. Attempts to reach Mansfield for comment were not immediately suc- cessful. Providing an overview of the case, Miller, the col- lege's counsel, said that Mansfield repeatedly crossed professional boundary lines by pursu- ing inappropriate personal relationships with five fe- students over the course of a six-year period from 2016 until 2021. ly of the students were 17 years of age at the start. "With respect to one of the students, his miscon- duct went beyond crossing professional boundaries to sexual abuse of this young woman," Miller said, not- ing that Mansfield admit- ted to having sexual inter- course with the student on approximately 10 occa- ‘tn is what yous Would lescribe grooming 3 reach" s ” a nels stofalegations al so includes sending flirt: tious text messages to mul tiple students, inviting a student to his home, pro- viding and offering to buy alcohol, and admitting kissing three of his Sun dents, as detailed in the hearing report. There were also allega- tions of emotional abuse, which involved a student who felt pressured to Koop communicating with hi with Mansfield report. edly texting her hundreds of times over five days —af- ter asking him to be the verifier for her university application. "It is abu- athryn Boyle photo Darren Mansfield is a former teacher at Paral District High School. sive for a teacher to placea student in th icomfort- able position of being the recipient of flirtatious, inken messages and to share inappropriate per- sonal information,” Miller said. In the case of another student, Mansfield reached out to her on social media and started discuss- ing his dating and relation- The student Freshly Roasted Coffee DY=\INYZel ecto mcomn Colt] al DYore!s Premium 100% Specialty VAN g.] 0) [ot] Direct from the Roastery IEPENDENT READERS’ CHOICE 2022 ‘AWARD NOMINEE refused to give out her phone number and eventu- ally cut off communication r finding the interac- tion “weird” and creepy," the hearing heat ‘he college's" couns« said Mansfield failed rs show respect for the five students by putting them inacompromising position of having to offer support to their teacher or former teacher for fear of the con- e a Fd 3 a z z Fy sequences to him or them- in 2021 he's still engaging in 3 this similar kind of inap- 8 propriate behaviour," she 3 said, adding his actions 8 8 have significant detrimen- tal effects on the students. Back in January, Mar- nie Denton, communica- Board, said that the board was aware of the allega- tions and the hearing pro- cess. She said at the time that Mansfield was assigned and was no longer Catone by the board. A written decision with reasons by the Ontario Col- lege of Teachers will fol- low. - ‘With files from Melanie Hennessey Culligan Walox For a Limited Time Save 5 Mountainview Rd N, Georgetown the Qubtigon. High Effificiency System. 6 months no payments, no interest. (905) 877-6242 www.culligan.com #8 info@culliganwater.ca Schedule your Free Water Test Bu yon | ine at BLACKCREEKCOFFEE.COM “Sane eacton opp. Peoe cour Cillgn Represent fx dt tinted ie oll, dese peptone, g 8B