B.C. teacher threatens to sue student for complaining and gets reprimand

A Vancouver teacher has been reprimanded for threatening to sue a student and the student's parent for complaining about him.

Dante Giorgio Bertuzzi Luciani entered a consent resolution agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation for professional misconduct, according to a decision posted online Tuesday.

Luciani was employed as a high school teacher at the independent school Vancouver College. In January 2019 a Grade 11/12 student complained to the Commissioner of teachers, under the Teachers Act, about an assessment method used by Luciani.

While the assessment method is not shared in the decision, it said that Luciani was made aware of the complaint the following April and told the student they’d “gone too far.” He then went on to say if the complaint negatively impacted his employment, he’d sue the student.

On April 5, Luciani called the student’s mother and told her the same thing.

“He also told the student’s mother that the student had wasted everyone’s time and that the student needed ‘to get everyone out of this pickle now’,” Howard Kushner, Commissioner, wrote in a  decision.

This all got back to the Commissioner of teachers who ruled, with Luciani agreeing, that the behaviour was professional misconduct. He was suspended for five days — two initially and another three this December. 

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