A private school teacher in BC who kissed a recent grad student has been barred from teaching for 10 years.

According to a June 23 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, Robert Ian Collett met the former student in a restaurant and later hugged and kissed them within a month of their graduation.

“Collett demonstrated a serious failure to maintain appropriate boundaries,” the Commissioner said in the decision.

The decision said Collett taught the student in Grades 11 and 12, and once in Grade 12 began exchanging emails about school matters.

As the school year progressed, Collett and the student shared numerous emails that included romantic and intimate language.

After the student graduated, the emails contained sexual content.

“Within a month after (the) student graduated, Collett and (the) student met at a restaurant, where they discussed personal matters, and at a park, where he hugged and kissed (the) Student,” the decision reads.

After the meeting at the park, the student emailed Collett asking him not to contact them again.

A few days later, he sent the student a “good-bye” poem.

In December 2023, Collett was fired from the school.

The decision said Collett held an Interim Subject Restricted Independent School licence from 2012. The teaching regulator gave no indication to which private school he taught at, or where in BC it was.

Collett later signed a consent agreement with the regulator admitting to his behaviour and accepting a 10-year ban from teaching.

“Collett’s inappropriate relationship with (the) student arose out of a teacher-student relationship,” the decision reads. “Collett engaged in conduct that had the potential to compromise (the) student’s emotional safety and well-being.”

No other details are given in the decision.