Shuswap Teacher Suspended After Repeated Misconduct

A middle school teacher with the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District no. 83 will face a suspension this spring after reports of his misconduct have piled up over the past decade.

Karl Emde has agreed to a five-day suspension which will take effect on May 2-6, 2016.

A Resolution Agreement released by the British Columbia Commissioner for Teacher Regulation details incidents as far back as 2007 in which Emde was deemed to have acted unprofessionally.

On April 1st, 2014, the District reported Emde to the Teacher Regulation Branch when a Grade 8 student was injured in his shop class.

On February 11th, 2014, Embe saw a student using a sander but didn’t make sure she had updated safety training with the specific tool. He let her continue, even though her long hair was down and she was wearing a scarf.

“At no time did Emde advise (the student) to remove her scarf and tie back her hair,” reads the report.

Shortly after, the student's scarf was caught in the sander, and she was hurt.

According to the report, this wasn’t the first time Embe let a student use the sander without training.

He received a two-day suspension without pay which he served on March 31st and April 1st, 2014.

Another report was filed on Embe on October 8, the same year.

Embe had used profane language with his students in Grade 6 and 7, even calling students “idiot” and “dumbass.”

On the same day the report was filed, he was issued a four-day suspension without pay which he served a few days later. He was also required to take a boundaries course with the B.C. Teacher’s Federation in November and apologize to two students.

Embe has also received “letters of direction” in 2007 for inappropriate comments to students, in 2010 for not reporting a fire in his shop class, in 2011 for using disrespectful language to students, and again in 2013 for the same issue.

In the report, Embe admitted that it was all true, and that he acted unprofessionally at those times.