‘Not a pedophile’: B.C. teacher suspended for one day for touching students in gym class

The floor of a school gymnasium is seen in this stock image. (Credit: Shutterstock)

A teacher in B.C.’s Interior who “periodically” touched students during fitness class has been handed a one-day suspension by the regulatory body.

Todd Erin Graham entered a consent agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation last month in which he admitted to professional misconduct. The decision was posted publicly online Wednesday.

The commissioner says while teaching a fitness and conditioning class called Human Performance 12 between September and December 2022, Grahm separated the girls from the boys for a meeting.

“In that meeting, Graham told the girls that he was ‘not a pedophile’ but that he might have to ‘grab them’ to show them proper form or to spot them,” the decision reads.

“Graham then told them that he had no attraction to them as he was 62 and they were 15. The students reported feeling uncomfortable following this meeting.”

The commissioner says Graham would “periodically” touch students during exercises, which some female students reported feeling uncomfortable about, and gave three examples.

In one instance, the teacher touched the side of a student’s chest while she was doing a bench press and asked, ‘can you feel that?’. In another, he pushed a student’s hips while she did squats, according to the document. In a third incident Graham complimented a student’s legs while she was using the leg press machine, a remark she reported feeling uncomfortable with.

The school district issued a letter of discipline and required Graham to attend a boundaries course as a result.

The consent agreement also addressed comments Graham made in 2022 and 2023.

In one incident, Graham singled out a “diverse learner” in front of the class and described them using an “unflattering term,” the regulator says. He also singled out an Indigenous student “in a manner which was demeaning to (the student) specifically and to Indigenous peoples generally.”

For those comments, the district issued a disciplinary letter and required him to complete a course on reconciliation.

As a result of its investigation, the commissioner suspended Graham’s teaching qualification for one day, and required he take the course Reinforcing Respectful Professional Boundaries at the Justice Institute of B.C. by September.

Factors considered in the decision, the regulator says, included that the teacher failed to create a positive learning environment, adversely impacted students, failed to respect appropriate boundaries, and harmed First Nations students in a way that did not contribute to truth and reconciliation.