Manitoba teacher stripped of credentials after admitting he gave student cannabis, alcohol

A teacher who also worked as a principal in the Frontier School Division has agreed to be stripped of all teaching and administration certificates after admitting to giving cannabis and alcohol to a high school student last fall.

In a consent resolution agreement between teacher David Alexander Duke and Bobbi Taillefer, the province’s commissioner of teacher professional conduct, the teacher agreed to have cancelled his permanent teaching certificate, his Level One school administration certificate, and both his special education certificate and special education co-ordinator certificate.

The cancellations were effective on March 16.

There are more than 40 schools in the division which, according to its website, covers approximately 75 per cent of the province’s land mass. The schools are located mostly in the central and northern areas of Manitoba.

The agreement does not say where the incident took place.

Duke, who was given the option of having a lawyer, could not be reached for comment. The superintendent of the Frontier School Division did not respond to a request for comment.

A statement from the commissioner’s office said it’s the first time a teacher has been stripped of certificates since Taillefer took on the role last year, adding it’s “the most serious sanction available under provincial legislation.

“An individual cannot be employed as a teacher in the K-12 school system without holding a valid teaching certificate.”

According to the agreement, Duke, who received his Manitoba teaching certificate in 1995, was working in the Frontier School Division, but on a leave of absence, when he used social media to contact a student who was a minor on Sept. 27.

Duke then met the student, at a pre-arranged place on the same day, and gave them cannabis, a cannabis vape pen and alcohol.

The division made a complaint to the commissioner on Dec. 9, and an investigation under the Education Administration Act was ordered the same day.

In the agreement, the commissioner said that the certificate cancellations were done for several reasons, including Duke “failed to model appropriate behaviour expected of a teacher,” the actions “violated professional boundaries expected between a teacher and a student” and it was “a fundamental breach of a teacher’s duty of care to students.”

In public salary disclosure documents, Duke earned $123,848 as a principal in the division in 2021, and $110,542 as a teacher in 2023.

The commissioner’s office was created by the province and has been in place for just over a year.

The agreement also states a notice of cancellation will be sent to all of the province’s school divisions, as well as funded independent schools, First Nation schools and teacher regulatory bodies across the country.

As well, Duke agreed not to make any statement that “contradicts, disputes or calls into question the terms of this agreement or the admissions made in it.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca