Kelowna teacher who failed to report ‘pantsing’ incident gets reprimanded

An Okanagan high school teacher who failed to report a “pantsing” incident to senior staff, and later called a parent a “prick” during a community volleyball competition, has been issued a public reprimand after twice being suspended by the school district.

According to a Feb. 24 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, Kelowna high school teacher Kelly Jean Hettinga’s troubles started in 2021, when he was driving a group of students back from an out-of-town volleyball tournament.

The decision says that while the students had stopped at a public rest area to use the washroom, one student had their pants pulled down by another student, more commonly known as “pantsing.”

Hettinga didn’t see the incident but found out about it the next day when the victim’s parents contacted him. 

“Hettinga and the parent had a discussion that day, during which they agreed on a course of action to address the incident,” the decision reads. 

The victim’s parents asked that the victim be able to address the volleyball team about the incident and Hettinga agreed.

“(The victim) read a prepared statement to the team, in which they expressed their hurt and embarrassment from the pantsing and their ‘biggest concern’ which was that any video of the pantsing be deleted immediately and that they be notified if the video had been sent to anyone so that they could address it right away,” the decision reads. “Hettinga told the team that if a video existed, it was to be deleted and not shared.”

The decision says that the victim’s parents had raised concerns to Hettinga that calling more attention to the pantsing would be to the detriment of their child.

“Reporting the incident to the School administration was not part of the agreed course of action to address the incident,” the decision says.

However, two months later, the school found out about the incident and held meetings about it with everyone involved.

At the first volleyball practice after Hettinga’s meeting with school administration, he told the students that he wasn’t going to change how he ran the team “based on outside influences, whether it be parents or other things.”

He was later suspended for three days without pay and barred from coaching for three years. He also had to attend a professional boundaries course put on by the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association.

However, Hettinga’s issues with the school board weren’t over.

Six months later, in May 2022, when he was a volunteer coach for a community volleyball teams he got into a disagreement with the parent of one of his students.

His team was playing against a team which the victim played on and another child whose parent was volunteering at the tournament as a linesperson.

During the match, the parent linesperson made an incorrect call, which Hettinga saw as intentional and called the parent a “prick.”

“A heated exchange ensued between Hettinga and (the) parent,” the decision reads.

At the end of the game, Hettinga told his team that he’d been suspended by the Central Okanagan School District and that the victim’s family from the pantsing incident, the parent linesperson and another parent were behind it.

“Hettinga believed that he was not sharing new information with his team based on conversations that he had previously heard between Team members,” the decision reads.

The decision says Hettinga grieved it with his union, but they failed to arrive at a settlement. He was suspended for eight days without pay and barred from coaching until 2028.

The matters were then handed over to the provincial regulator.

“Hettinga failed to report to the School administration a serious incident of student misconduct involving emotional harm and breach of privacy to another student,” the Commissioner said in the decision. “Hettinga’s inappropriate conduct at the community volleyball tournament was contrary to his duty as an educator to be a role model.”

The Commissioner noted that Hettinga dealt with the pantsing incident in a manner requested by the victim’s parents, but also made comments which were “inappropriate, unprofessional and undermined parents’ involvement and concerns.”

Hettinga signed a consent agreement admitting to his behaviour.

Along with the public reprimand, Hettinga has to complete a Reinforcing Respectful Professional Boundaries course.