Teacher barred for ‘repeated boundary-crossing conduct’

A disciplinary panel has ordered the cancellation of a Chinese-Canadian teacher’s certificate because of her “repeated boundary-crossing with a student” during her tenure at an international school with local ties.

Janice Wen Ying Ma is permanently barred from teaching on Manitoba soil or at a Manitoba-accredited institution as of Sept. 14.

The new ruling concludes that Ma engaged in inappropriate physical interaction and “emotionally intimate online messages” with a girl who attended Clifford International School in Guangzhou, China in 2024-25.

“This conduct represents a fundamental departure from the standards expected of a teacher,” the panel, chaired by public representative Gordon Schumacher, wrote in its 22-page decision.

Schumacher and two colleagues, a local principal and representative from the school boards association, noted that evidence showed Ma told the student to delete messages and contacted them “after being directed not to do so.”

Ma was the subject of a videoconference hearing — the first to be open to the public in real-time — on July 21.

Just more than two years ago, the B.C.-trained teacher started a job at a Manitoba-accredited school overseas.

Ma, who was teaching art in Guangzhou, was fired in May 2025 after an investigation began when a colleague stumbled upon a secret meeting between her and a student.

Security footage of the incident — which was screened during a public hearing — showed the duo embrace for nearly 15 seconds before they entered a secluded room that was shielded from cameras. It also showed Ma flee the scene through a back exit when another adult entered the vicinity.

Senior administration found the footage when the staff member reported the unusual interaction.

Attendees at the summer hearing heard that Ma and the girl gave accounts that conflicted with the video during separate meetings.

The evidence also included a series of Instagram messages, exchanged hours after Ma was suspended amid an initial workplace probe, between the student and an unknown user.

“The place where we kissed could not be seen,” the teenager, identified only as “Student A” wrote in one message.

Ma denied exchanging any romantic messages with the student or having any inappropriate “emotional connections.” She presented herself as a rookie teacher who made poor judgment calls in an effort to console a teenager.

The panel was tasked with determining whether independent teacher commissioner Noni Classen had established alleged misconduct “on a balance of probabilities.”

The trio ultimately sided with Classen’s recommendation to cancel Ma’s certificate.

The ruling states that barring Ma from teaching was “the only appropriate disposition” in a case involving “repeated boundary-crossing conduct.”

“The panel is particularly concerned by the teacher’s repeated disregard for professional boundaries before, during, and after the school’s investigation,” the panel said in the decision uploaded to the teacher registry about two months after the history hearing.

Alison Bourrier, a labour relations consultant, represented the Manitoba School Boards Association on the panel. The third panellist for the hearing was Kevin Sterner, an independent school principal in Winnipeg.

Ma has not been ordered to pay any fees.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca