Hearings

Three-member panels of the Discipline Committee conduct public hearings into cases of alleged incompetence or professional misconduct. The panels are a mix of elected and appointed Council members.

If found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence, a member's certificate may be revoked, suspended or limited. In cases of professional misconduct only, the committee may also reprimand, admonish or counsel the member, impose a fine, publish its order in Professionally Speaking, or order the member to pay costs.

Panels of the Discipline Committee have ordered summaries of these recent disciplinary cases to be published in Professionally Speaking.

Member: Lindsay Kendal Millar
Registration number: 246441
Decision: Reprimand with conditions

A Discipline Committee panel held a public hearing on August 13, 2007 into four allegations of professional misconduct against Lindsay Kendal Millar for inappropriate conduct with a student during a camping trip.

Millar, who was first certified to teach in May 1986, attended the hearing and was represented by counsel.

The panel heard evidence that Millar, who worked as a Special Education teacher of Grade 4–5 students at a private school in Etobicoke, provided alcohol and consumed it with a student with whom he shared a tent during a school camping trip.

Having considered the evidence, an agreed statement of facts, a plea of no contest and a joint submission on penalty, the panel reprimanded Millar for professional misconduct. The panel ordered Millar to complete, at his own expense, a course on appropriate teacher/student boundaries, and said he could not teach until he proves to the College Registrar that he has successfully completed the course.

Millar’s lawyer argued against publication of his client’s name in Professionally Speaking, saying that the incident occurred long ago and was not the most serious boundary violation. The Discipline Committee panel disagreed.

“Parents entrust teachers with the care of their children whether in a classroom or more particularly, while participating in an extracurricular activity,” the panel wrote in its decision. “It is important that teachers conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times. Supplying alcohol to a 14-year-old is highly inappropriate and is an abuse of the public trust. Teachers would not supply alcohol to students in a school setting; therefore, it should not be supplied under any circumstance.

“In addition to supplying alcohol to a minor student, the member consumed alcohol together with the student during the night,” the panel said. “This is a further violation of teacher/student boundaries and abuse of public and parental trust.”

Further, the panel said that Millar demonstrated poor judgment in choosing to occupy a tent with one student, adding, “This decision was unwise and ill-considered.”

The panel said that Millar’s conduct was a serious breach of the teacher/student relationship and the public trust. Full publication promotes the value of openness and the transparency of the discipline process and, in this case, takes priority over any embarrassment which might be experienced by the member, the panel said.

The panel’s decision appears on the College’s public register.

Glossary of terminology

The vocabulary used to report disciplinary hearings reflects their quasi-judicial nature. If you wonder what some terms mean, help is at hand.

For past and future reference, the College has posted a glossary of terms on its web site. A link to the glossary can be found on the decision-summary page.

Visit Glossary of Terms.