U of W, teachers sued by TV math icon

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This article was published 01/10/2012 (4846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former cable-TV icon is suing the University of Winnipeg, several of its professors and teaching staff at Gordon Bell High School.

Martin Green, a.k.a. Math With Marty, alleges the professors, a teacher and the principal at Gordon Bell conspired to end his dream of becoming a math teacher.

In a statement of claim filed recently in Court of Queen’s Bench, Green, 56, said the high school and university staff “wrongfully and maliciously conspired and combined amongst themselves to injure him by depriving him of his opportunity to become certified as a teacher.”

The allegations have not been proven in court. Statements of defence have not been filed.

Named by Green in the legal action are Gordon Bell teacher Hiep Tram, principal Arlene Skull, Deb Woloshyn, director of student teaching at the U of W, Wally Stewart, a U of W professor, and John Anchan, associate dean of education.

Green, who has an engineering degree, told the Free Press he enrolled in the U of W’s education program in September 2011, adding that before that, he worked in construction for five years and was self-employed for the 10 years before that.

He became a local celebrity by hosting a program on a local cable channel teaching the basics of mathematics.

Green said the education program was a lifelong dream, adding he believes the university professors resented him and did not want him to become a teacher.

“The professors didn’t like me,” Green told the Free Press. “I argued with them…

“I would disagree with them and they didn’t like it.”

Green said the university professors encouraged the Gordon Bell staff to make false appraisals of his work while he was a student-teacher at the school in November 2011. He alleges his teaching practicum was terminated based on false and misleading assessments.

Green states he was subsequently suspended from the teaching practicum at the U of W.

Green said his appeals were ignored or rejected by university officials, stating he ultimately was banned from campus and forced to quit the education program.

“They implied that I threatened someone, but would never say who, or what was the threat,” he said.

Green, who is acting as his own lawyer, is asking the court to award him unspecified aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages.

Green states his reputation and character have been damaged, that he endured severe emotional distress, anxiety, embarrassment and humiliation, and that the actions have brought him “into public scandal and contempt.”

He said he still hopes to become a teacher someday, adding he is volunteering at a math club at a local high school.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca