A Coquitlam elementary school teacher has been suspended two days for taping the word “poop” to a kindergartner’s arm in an effort to discipline the student for using the word.
According to a signed consent resolution agreement from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation posted online this week, Tania Christine Jacobsen was teaching the student, who has “diverse abilities,” in November 2022 when the incident happened.
“In an effort to stop the student from using the word ‘poop,’ Jacobsen wrote out the word ‘poop,’ which she then crossed out, on a piece of green painter’s tape.”
She “briefly taped it onto (the student’s) arm,” causing the student to appear “distressed, embarrassed, and nearly in tears” because it was done in front of classmates. Jacobsen removed the tape and said, “You cannot be saying that word or I might have to put this back on.”
And in January 2023, Jacobsen failed to properly supervise students on two occasions.
Three of her students were spotted by a school employee in a courtyard outside, with the classroom door closed. When the employee asked why they were outside, Jacobsen said to the students: “I have your parents’ phone numbers here, and if you don’t listen to the teacher I will call them.”
Later that day, she allowed a fourth student to go outside and get an umbrella that was about 100 metres away from the class, past several parked cars and out of Jacobsen’s sight.
In Feburary 2023, the district issued a letter of discipline to Jacobsen and suspended her for one day without pay. She also had to attend workshops on dealing with students on the autism spectrum and keeping them safe.
This followed a letter of reprimand issued in October 2017 when Jacobsen allegedly slapped a student on the arm for disrupting the class and not listening to instructions, after which she was ordered to take a course on positive learning environments.
The commissioner determined a further two-day suspension was warranted for Jacobsen’s admitted professional misconduct, because “the age of the students made them particularly vulnerable,” she had a pattern of misconduct, and endangered the students’ emotional and physical safety.