A BC teacher who accused a student of being a “gangster wannabe” and told his colleagues that the student’s parents were involved in a gang has been suspended for a day.

According to a June 2 BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation decision, high school teacher Kylejeet Singh Grewal made a series of inappropriate and unprofessional comments to his students during the 2022/2023 school year, but when the Coquitlam school district began investigating, he was “not forthcoming” or honest about what happened.

The decision said Grewal emailed a student’s parent calling their son a “gangster wannabe” and saying he didn’t have the professional expertise to help, and instead recommended a psychiatrist.

He later emailed school administrators, speculating that the student and their parent were involved in a gang.

The teaching regulator called the email “inappropriate and unprofessional.”

Grewal later told another student not to date the “gangster wannabe,” saying he sold drugs, he would not treat them well and he shouldn’t be friends with them.

The teacher was also disciplined for acting “inappropriately and unprofessionally” during an interaction in a hallway with two grade 11 students.

“Are you too much of a pussy to go to the office?” Grewal told the students after they refused to head to the office.

When his interaction with the two grade 11 students came under investigation, Grewal singled out one of the students involved.

“Are you going to report me again,” he said to the student after telling them he had no issue giving them a zero on an assignment.

He described the student as “toxic” to a resource teacher, saying they’d made a “false complaint” against him.

“Grewal made other inappropriate comments to other students,” the regulator said.

He accused one student of selling drugs to underage kids, and when the student replied that they worked for their parent, he responded, “I bet you do.”

In May 2023, Grewal was suspended by the school district for seven days without pay.

The file was then handed to the Commissioner.

Grewal, who had only been teaching for a year in BC before the incidents happened, signed a consent agreement admitting to his behaviour and was issued a further one-day suspension.

“Grewal failed to create a positive, safe and inclusive learning environment for students in his class… (and his) conduct showed a lack of understanding of appropriate professional boundaries,” the regulator said. “Grewal was not forthright and honest when his behaviour was investigated by the District… (and he) failed to model appropriate behaviour.”

Along with the one-day suspension, Grewal also has to complete a Creating a Positive Learning Environment course.