A kindergarten teacher in School District 43 (SD43) will have a two-day suspension of her certificate of qualification in December for professional misconduct.
In a discipline outcome released Tuesday, Aug. 13, by the BC Commission for Teacher Regulation, acting commissioner Donnaree Nygard wrote that Tania Jacobsen voluntarily entered into a consent resolution agreement following a report SD43 made in February 2023.
The incident from Nov. 25, 2022, involved a student with diverse abilities in Jacobsen’s class.
According to the report, Jacobsen wrote the word “poop” on a piece of green painter’s tape, and crossed out the word before taping it to the student’s arm in an attempt to stop the student from using the word.
The report said the student was “distressed, embarrassed and nearly in tears as this was done” before the student’s classmates.
“Jacobsen then removed the tape and said, ‘Student A, you cannot be saying that word or I might have to put this back on.'”
Two months later, on Jan. 10, 2023, Jacobsen was also twice cited for failing to supervise students in her care. The following month, the teacher was suspended for a day without pay after being issued a letter of discipline from SD43.
Last September, Jacobsen took two workshops with the Provincial Outreach Program for Autism and Related Disorders.
It’s not the first time Jacobsen has faced disciplinary action, according to Nygard’s report.
In 2017, after she allegedly slapped a student on the arm for disrupting a class and not following her direction, Jacobsen received a letter of reprimand from the district that required her to take a course at the Justice Institute of BC.
Nygard wrote that Jacobsen’s two-day suspension comes after she considered:
- the age of the students in Jacobsen’s care
- Jacobsen’s pattern of conduct
- Jacobsen’s endangerment to the physical and emotional safety of the students
- Jacobsen’s remedial work\
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