B.C. teacher suspended for racially segregated game of tag

A Campbell River gym teacher was sent to a new school after she confused and upset her young students with a racial segregation exercise.

Diana Marie Lontayao separated all the visible minority students in her grade 2 class to show them what segregation was during Black History Month this year.

They didn't understand why she did it and more than one student was "very upset by it," according to a recent decision by the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

The school district suspended her for 20 days, then reassigned her to a new school before the provincial regulator gave her another one-day suspension, according to the decision.

On Feb. 15, an announcement of the school's PA system told the story of Rosemary Brown, the first Black woman elected to a Canadian provincial legislature.

Lontayao then asked her students if they understood what segregation meant and started a "spontaneous exercise" to explain.

"All the brown kids, you go into that corner," she said, directing three visible minorities to section of the gym cordoned off with cones.

Both groups played "tag," but she directed the segregated groups not to play or talk to each other.

After playing for a while, she blew a whistle for a water break, but announced the children in the majority group were "entitled to get water first," the decision said.

It's not clear how long they played the game before the water break, but one of the three segregated students then began to cry as they waited in the corner. That student left the gym with an Educational Assistant.

"Lontayao then explained to the students how unfair is was that in the past, they would not have been allowed to play together on account of their race, and that it was because of the efforts of people like Rosemary Brown that today they could play and learn together," the decision read.

Lontayao apologized to the upset student once they returned, bringing the activity to an end.

The school district issued a letter of discipline on March 15 to notify her she'd be suspended for 20 days without pay.

Lontayao also completed a Learning about Racism course before she was eventually reassigned to a new school.

On April 20, the provincial regulator proposed a consent resolution agreement with Lontayao, which it reached in its recently published decision.

"Lontayao failed to treat student with dignity and respect and did not show sufficient care for their mental and emotional wellbeing," the decision read.

Lontayao has been a licensed to teach in B.C. since 1989 and had been an elementary teacher at the Campbell River school district the entire time.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.