Suspension for BC teacher whose ‘rigid’ rules negatively impacted some students

A BC teacher whose “rigid classroom rules” were detrimental to some of his students has been suspended for two days.

The BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation found Hope secondary school teacher Jonathon Tyler Polishak rarely modified his rules to support individual students, and his teaching methods negatively impacted some students.

“By applying his rules to all students without appropriate variation, he did not value and support the success of all students,” the BC Commissioner for Teacher Regulation said in a June 23 decision. “Polishak did not use instructional and assessment practices that created a respectful and inclusive environment for the learning and development of all students in his classes.”

The decision said Polishak had a standard routine for students who were late.

“When a student had a history of lateness, Polishak sometimes refused to let the student enter the classroom. Polishak required late students to wait in the hallway for up to 15 minutes, which resulted in students missing more learning time and sometimes falling behind on in-class assignments,” the decision reads.

The teaching regulator also noted that Polishak required students to complete all assignments. 

“He did not usually modify or adjust assignments to meet a student’s individual needs. Polishak imposed a ‘homework detention’ on students who had not completed assignments, by which the assignment had to be completed under his supervision before or after school, at lunch or during the flex block,” the decision said. “If a student did not attend a ‘flex block’ or homework detention when Polishak expected them to, he sometimes denied the student entry when they next attended class, and the student had to wait in the hallway until Polishak spoke to them. Sometimes students were in the hallway for up to 15 minutes, missing additional learning time.”

The decision said Polishak began teaching in BC in 2005 and worked for the Fraser-Cascade school district when the incidents happened during the 2023/2024 school year. He’s listed as an English/Theatre teacher on the Spirit of Hope Secondary School website.

The regulator found that Polishak wouldn’t change his manner of teaching, classroom expectations or assignments to support students’ individual learning needs.

In one instance, Polishak refused to allow a pupil to wear headphones while doing an assignment, even though it is a helpful strategy for students with ADHD, and the parent had requested it. Even after the principal had told him to allow it, he still didn’t for some time.

While Polishak had set ideas on how students should behave, his own behaviour didn’t impress the regulator.

When teaching a Grade 10 English class, Polishak noticed a student working quietly on an assignment for a different class. He grabbed a student’s binder and threw it into the corner of the classroom, then yelled, “I am so sick of students doing whatever they want in my class.”

He was visibly angry and students reported feeling “scared and uncomfortable.” The student involved dropped out of his class shortly afterwards.

In another incident, he crouched down to eye-level with a student who had laughed while other students were being disruptive.

He loudly said that the student was being disrespectful and the student asked Polishak to move because he was making them uncomfortable. He said words to the effect of “move out of their face.”

The student was sent to the hallway and was upset and felt it was unfair that they were sent out when other students were misbehaving.

A few days later, Polishak had another run-in with the same student as he had noticed potential plagiarism between the student and a classmate.

“(They) tried to explain that they were sharing notes that (the) Student had missed during their absence, but Polishak cut them off. While in the hallway, Polishak saw (the) student with a cell phone. The other student was permitted to return to the class, but (the) student was sent to the office (and) was upset at being accused of cheating,” the decision reads. “Polishak did not support (the) student returning to the classroom.”

After this, the student dropped out of his class.

At the end of the school year the school district suspended Polishak for three days and he was removed as the department head.

The file was then passed to the regulator, which imposed a further two-day suspension.

“Polishak did not adjust his manner of teaching, course content or assignments to support the learning needs and success of all students in his classes. His practice of requiring students to wait in the hallway to speak to him undermined their success by singling them out and excluding them from instructional time,” the regulator said.