A BC high school teacher has been suspended after admitting to professional misconduct for failing to attend a track meet he was being paid to coach and for conducting business activities at school.
A consent resolution agreement from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation says Phi John Le was employed by School District No. 68 as a high school teacher and held a professional certificate of qualification issued in April 2016.
The agreement says Le was the teacher sponsor for the school’s 2024 track and field team when the Island Track and Field Meet was scheduled to take place in Port Alberni on May 21 and 22, 2024.
Le claimed and submitted requests for two paid athletic release days to attend and coach students at the meet, but did not attend and did not fulfill his coaching duties.
The agreement says he also did not tell the district he would not be attending.
Before the meet, Le contacted a coach from another district school and asked if the coach could “cover” the event for him, get the race package with the team’s numbers and times, and hand out race bibs to athletes from Le’s school.
Le told the coach he needed help because of a recent death in the family, which the agreement says was not accurate.
During a district interview, Le told investigators he had been unable to attend the meet because he had to be out of his apartment by the end of the month.
The agreement says students reported a lack of organization at the meet, made worse by Le’s absence and by the fact that he had not clearly told them the other coach would be their point person.
Le also did not prepare or communicate an emergency plan for the students attending the track meet, compromising student safety.
The agreement says attendance at a pre-meet coaches’ meeting was critical to register student athletes to qualify for the provincial championships.
Because Le did not attend the meet or the coaches’ meeting, two qualifying athletes from the school were ineligible to compete at the provincial championships.
The agreement also says Le owned a vintage clothing business with sales in stores in Nanaimo, Vancouver and Victoria.
He spoke about the business many times with students, displayed some of the clothing in his classroom and sometimes sold it to students on school property during school hours.
Some of those sales were cash transactions.
The district issued Le a letter of discipline on Sept. 23, 2024, and suspended him for three days without pay. He served that suspension on Oct. 15, 16 and 17, 2024.
Under the consent agreement, Le admitted the conduct amounted to professional misconduct and was contrary to Standard 1 of the Professional Standards for B.C. Educators.
He agreed to a one-day suspension of his teaching certificate, to be served May 15, 2026.
In deciding that a one-day suspension was appropriate, the commissioner said Le’s absence from the track meet negatively affected student athletes, and that his actions showed a lack of judgment and integrity.
The commissioner also noted Le has since stopped doing any business-related activities in or around the school.
