A Sudbury Catholic District School Board teacher has had her qualification certificate suspended for five months after being accused of punishing a special needs student with what she termed a “boot camp” at her own home at the request of his parents.
At a July 17 hearing of the Ontario College of Teachers discipline committee, Marie Bonita Chantal Bazinet was found guilty of professional misconduct.
Her Certificate of Qualification and Registration is suspended for five months, effective Aug. 1. Bazinet’s Certificate of Qualification and Registration is also subject to terms, conditions or limitations, although the Ontario College of Teachers website did not immediately indicate what those conditions are.
The teacher has also been reprimanded by the Ontario College of Teachers, and these disciplinary actions are also to be published in an official college publication.
The college's case against Bazinet is outlined in a notice of hearing document on the Ontario College of Teachers website.
She was accused of abusing a student verbally and psychologically, and committing acts, “that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.”
The notice of hearing, issued July 27, 2022, said that in the 2020-21 school year, the male student was in Bazinet’s class. The student has special needs and health challenges, as well as an Individual Education Plan.
On April 19, 2021, Bazinet allegedly went to the student’s home at the request of his parents, and told him that the next time he did not follow the rules at school or at home, he would be disciplined by participating in a “boot camp” at her home.
The document said that on April 22 of that year, the teacher received payment from the student’s parents to discipline him at her home by running a boot camp.
The teacher is said to have driven the student to her home — without permission from the board, the document adds.
For about one to two hours, the teacher allegedly had the student “repeatedly scoop water out of her pool and dump it in a flowerbed and repeatedly carry a cinder block from one end of her yard to the other.”
At the end of the boot camp, the teacher is said to have told the student that the next time he misbehaved, he would need to scoop water from her pool for two hours and carry the cinder block for one hour.
The teacher also allegedly filmed the student performing the tasks at her home, and said “this is so you can look at it later and experience how it feels right now.”
She allegedly then shared the video with the student’s parents and two staff members at the school. The document says the teacher shared the video with the staff members without the permission of the student or his parents.
On April 27, the teacher also is said to have reprimanded the student via videoconference at the request of his parents, including saying, “My yell is loud, but I could probably yell louder,” or words to that effect.
Sudbury.com reached out to the Sudbury Catholic District School Board both last winter and this week to ask if Bazinet is still employed by the board.
In both instances, we did not receive a confirmation from the board as to her current employment status, despite the Sudbury Catholic board providing similar information in previous cases of teachers facing misconduct hearings with the Ontario College of Teachers.
The Sudbury Catholic board provided the following emailed response attributed to director of education Joanne Bénard: “It would be inappropriate for us to comment, as this is a personnel matter.”
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s associate content editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.