Reprimand for BC teacher who made racist comment and ignored student’s asthma

A BC physical education teacher, who told international students to behave or go back to their own country, has been reprimanded by the teaching regulator.

According to a Jan. 20 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, teacher William Walter McCrae told the international students they had to follow the rules of Canada, and if they didn’t like it, to go back to Spain.

“McCrae failed to create an inclusive learning environment for the International Students and treat them equitably and with respect,” the Commissioner said in the decision.

The incident happened at an unnamed school in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school district during the 2023/2024 school year in a class where McCrae had split up the boys and girls to do warm-ups.

McCrae, who has been teaching for more than 25 years, got the boys to lift weights and the girls to ride stationary bikes.

The two female Spanish students arrived late to class and started using the weights, and McCrae told them to use the bikes.

“He perceived that they were continuing to talk and be disruptive to the class, and that (one of the Spanish students) was taking too long to move to the bikes,” the decision reads.

“You have to follow the rules of the country, the school… you are a guest in our country, you are a guest in our school, if you can’t abide by that… you should go back to Spain,” he told them.

The next day, the Spanish students went to apologize to him.

“I appreciate your apology, but I don’t get paid to teach international students,” was his response.

The teaching regulator also disciplined McCrae over another incident involving a student with asthma.

The asthmatic student said they couldn’t participate in a relay race because their inhaler had run out. However, the school had no record that the student had asthma and McCrae thought they were trying to get out of doing the race.

“He said, ‘nice try’ and told (the) student to join the rest of their group and do the best they can,” the decision reads. “After running on the track for five minutes, (the) student had to sit on their knees and take deep breaths.”

Following the incidents, McCrae was suspended without pay for three days and his file was passed to the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

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“McCrae failed to protect the physical and emotional safety of (the asthmatic) student,” the regulator said.

The decision said the school district had previously raised concerns about his conduct.

In 2023, he was issued a Letter of Expectation about using appropriate language when communicating with students.

The following year, he was issued a Letter of Reprimand following allegations that he’d failed to maintain appropriate professional boundaries.

McCrae signed a consent agreement with the Commissioner admitting to his conduct and accepting the public reprimand.