Teacher facing disciplinary hearing resigns
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A Norfolk County teacher with a history of speaking out against vaccines in the classroom and in public has resigned.
Tim Sullivan, in an e-mail sent to The Simcoe Reformer, said he resigned on Friday. He had been employed by the Grand Erie District School Board.
The school board confirmed, in an e-mail message Tuesday, that it had accepted Sullivan’s resignation.
A past candidate for Norfolk County Council, Sullivan was scheduled to appear before the disciplinary committee of the Ontario College of Teachers on Oct. 28.
None of the current allegations against Sullivan have been proven.
A six-page complaint prepared by the college alleges Sullivan “abused a student or students verbally” and “psychologically or emotionally” contrary to provincial regulations.
The complaint alleges Sullivan is guilty of professional misconduct.
“I retired from my board on Friday and tried to resign from the College of Teachers but college counsel has decided to go on with the hearing anyway,” Sullivan said in the e-mail. “I resigned because the college counsel is threatening $10,000 a day for the hearing and I can’t afford that.”
Sullivan, an Ontario high school teacher for more than 20 years, said the cost makes it unaffordable for most teachers to represent themselves.
“I have been labelled an ‘anti-vaxer’ already for reading from the vaccine product label to students who were in line to get vaccines at a school clinic back in 2015 and was written up and disciplined for it,” Sullivan said. “I was labelled abusive to students primarily because a nurse said I shouted at students.
“It turns (out) I didn’t shout but reading vaccine labels to students is still somehow abusive.”
High school students can give consent to vaccination but our health and education ministries feel no obligation to inform them of the risks, Sullivan said.
“Even though it is the law to do so, and that law is the basis of what (knowingly or not) people refer to as vaccine science,” he said.
The college alleges Sullivan made a number of comments during the 2018-2019 academic year that the committee wants to discuss including: “mental health conditions ‘real’ health issues, or words to that effect.”
The college complaint further alleges that, near the end of May 2019, Sullivan “made negative comments regarding vaccines” to students “despite being previously warned by the (Grand Erie District School) Board not to address students about vaccines and/or vaccinations.”
Sullivan was previously suspended from teaching, without pay, for a period of 10 days after he was alleged to have “told one or more students to ‘shut up,’ ‘shut the hell up,’ and/or ‘shut your damn mouth.’” The notice also alleges that Sullivan repeated a profanity in front of a classroom.
In 2017, the College of Teachers discipline committee found Sullivan guilty of professional misconduct for promoting anti-vaccination views in the workplace. Specifically cited was a confrontation with a public health nurse in the cafeteria of the school where he was employed while medical staff was administering vaccines. His teaching certificate was suspended for one month as a result.
Sullivan alleges the latest charges are partly based on his attempt to address anxiety and depression expressed by students.
“I showed them some yoga videos,” Sullivan said in his email. “It is difficult to teach a class when almost half the class has expressed difficulty in dealing with anxiety and depression.
“I would be failing my duty to my students if I did not stop and at least try and address that reality in my classroom.”
Sullivan did not respond to a request for an interview.
Andrew Fifield of the Ontario College of Teachers confirmed that Sullivan’s hearing will go ahead as scheduled on Oct. 28.
A hearing before the disciplinary committee is not related or dependent on a teacher’s employment status. As well, the allegations being addressed occurred when Sullivan was under the jurisdiction of the college, Fifield said.
Teachers in Ontario must be certified with the college and a teacher found guilty of professional misconduct could face a range of sanctions, he added.
The sanctions include, among other things, suspension of a teaching certificate for up to two years, require that the teacher be reprimanded, admonished or counselled or a fine of up to $5,000.
with files from Monte Sonnenberg
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