BC teacher reprimanded after shouting at students for using sexist language

Jana Ronne is a BC high school teacher who found herself in hot water after she took issue with a student’s language. 

The BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decided that Ronne had “failed to create an emotionally safe learning environment for students” and “failed to respect the diverse backgrounds of students”. 

In November 2024, Ronne overheard a student say the word “pussy” in the hallway during a flexible work period so she decided to leave the class to address the offensive language. 

When dealing with the group of students, one of whom she believed had said “pussy”, she raised her voice and said, “Do you think women are weak? Women can be stronger than men.”

As she was speaking with the students, religion came up and Ronne disputed the validity of religion and said, “that is philosophy, I’m a scientist.”

Several students heard Ronne’s dismissive comment about religion and it ended up making them uncomfortable. 

The students who Ronne spoke to talked to the school’s vice principal and expressed concern that a teacher would act the way Ronne did. 

In another incident Ronne used a “concerning example” which wasn’t necessary and made a student feel singled out. 

“When the student tried to speak to Ronne after the lesson, Ronne failed to recognize that her choice of language was insensitive and disrespectful of diverse cultural and religious identities despite the student’s emotional reaction,” the commissioner wrote in the decision. 

In 2024, Ronne was suspended without pay for four days, and she was ordered to take a respectful boundaries course. 

She has been disciplined in the past when she received a letter in 2019 about failing to maintain clear boundaries between personal and professional activities. 

On April 9, the commissioner decided that she should get another day’s suspension over the 2024 incident and take two more courses on creating a positive classroom and a primer on intercultural dialogue in partnership with Akanksha Thakur.