BC teacher told class two ‘darling’ students had ‘blossomed’

A BC Teacher was reprimanded and ordered take remedial education for making a number of inappropriate comments to and about students in his class, according to the province’s teacher regulator.

Bruce David Russell addressed two Grade 9 students at an unidentified school in the Vancouver School District in the fall of 2022 as “darling” and said in front of the class they had “blossomed.”

“Russell stated that he meant academically when he used the term blossomed, but this was not made clear to the students in his class,” according to a BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation consent resolution agreement.

He also told a Grade 9 international student from Asia she “must be tired from staying up all night doing karaoke” and a student from the Philippines who had her head on her desk: “put your head up, this is Canada, not the Philippines.”

The Vancouver teacher also embarrassed a student by raising his voice and telling the rest of the class the student wasn’t doing well in the class.

Russell was given a formal reprimand and ordered to take a respectful boundaries course.

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