A Campbell River elementary school teacher has been suspended for one day, after a misguided lesson on segregation went awry.

According to a consent agreement published by the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation on the incident involving Diane Marie Lontayao happened on Feb. 15. According to the documents, the school made an announcement over the PA to teach students about Rosemary Brown, who was the first Black woman elected to the provincial legislature in 1972.

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Lontayao asked her class if they knew what segregation meant.

When students did not follow, Lontayao decided to hold a 香蕉视频直播渟pontaneous exercise香蕉视频直播� to explain the concept.

Lontayao instructed one student to use pylons in order to corner off a small area of the gym and instructed 香蕉视频直播渁ll the brown kids, you go into that corner.香蕉视频直播�

Children of visible minority were instructed to play tag in the corner, only given one noodle. The other students were instructed to do the same. However, they were given three noodles.

During the exercise, according to the agreement, students from the two groups 香蕉视频直播渃ould neither play nor talk with one another.香蕉视频直播�

After the students had been playing for a while, Lontayao called for a water break. She then instructed the students in the majority group go first, while the students cornered off would have to wait.

香蕉视频直播淎t this point, one student (identified as 香蕉视频直播楽tudent A香蕉视频直播�) in the minority group began to cry. Student A left the classroom with the Educational Assistant,香蕉视频直播� the agreement says. 香蕉视频直播淟ontayao then explained to the students how unfair it was that in the past they would not have been allowed to play together on account of their race, and it was the efforts of people like Rosemary Brown that they could play and learn together.香蕉视频直播�

When Student A came back, the teacher apologized and brought the exercise to a conclusion.

On March 15, the district issued Lontayao a letter of discipline and suspended her without pay for 20 days. She was directed to complete the course titled Learning About Racism, a program is offered through the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF). Lontayao has since completed the course.

Lontayao served her one-day suspension on Nov. 21.

Edward Hitchins
edward.hitchins@campbellrivermirror.com
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