P.E.I. Liberal leader calls for swift action on school staff misconduct report

CHARLOTTETOWN – Prince Edward Island’s Opposition leader is calling for swift government action after an independent report found that the province did not have an adequate system to track cases of staff sexual misconduct.

Policies and procedures need strengthening and there needs to be better communication between administrators and school boards, Liberal Leader Robert Mitchell said Wednesday in an interview.

“Communication is always a priority,” Mitchell said.

“I think there (were) some failures during the process. We need to enhance that right away. We need to ensure that the reporting chain is in place and fully understood by everybody in the school system.”

On Tuesday former provincial chief justice David Jenkins released a report saying school administrators are unable to track records of misconduct in the network, including if a teacher was blocked from working at another school.

The report calls for a centralized system to track incidents of misconduct involving school staff along with stronger employee screening and the development of a sexual misconduct policy and code of conduct.

Education Minister Robin Croucher tasked Jenkins with leading the review in May, about a week after a CBC report said a former substitute teacher had pleaded guilty to four charges related to child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and an unrelated incident of sexually touching a girl in a primary school.

The report says there had been two internal complaints against the accused, Matthew Craswell, in English-language schools: one in June 2023, and another at a different school in April 2024. Both cases involved allegations that the teacher touched students in the classroom during a game, the report says. In both cases school officials saw the touching as inappropriate, but not sexual. The parents were involved and the decision was made to handle the matter at the school level without police.

Without a central tracking system, the administration at the second school could not have known that Craswell had previously been blocked from teaching at another location, the report says. However, Jenkins said officials at both schools acted appropriately.

The Public Schools Branch, which oversees 56 English-language schools across the province, has not commented on the findings.

Croucher said Wednesday that officials have already made changes that align with recommendations in the report.

“We will continue to analyze the report and consider the recommendations as we work to make Island schools as safe as possible for students and staff,” he said in a statement.

In October, Croucher issued a ministerial directive requiring increased screening and criminal record checks for staff and immediate disclosure if an employee is charged with a crime.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2026.

Note to readers:This is a corrected story. The original article incorrectly named the substitute teacher accused of two internal complaints in the English-language school system as Alan Craswell. In fact, the substitute teacher’s name is Matthew Craswell.