Campbell River teacher disciplined for separating students by race during lesson

An empty classroom is seen in this undated file photo.

A Campbell River teacher who separated her Grade 2 students by race to teach them a spontaneous lesson about segregation has had her teaching certificate suspended as punishment.

The incident occurred on Feb. 15 of this year, according to a consent resolution agreement between teacher Diana Maria Lontayao and B.C.'s Commissioner for Teacher Regulation.

The agreement was reached last month, but was posted online Tuesday.

In it, Lontayao admitted to the facts as laid out by the commissioner. The agreement indicates that there was an announcement on the day of the misconduct telling students the story of Rosemary Brown, the first Black woman elected to a Canadian legislature.

After the announcement, the agreement reads, Lontayao asked her students if they understood what segregation meant.

When they didn't seem to understand, the teacher "decided to engage in a spontaneous exercise to explain segregation to the class," according to the agreement.

Lontayao asked a student to mark off a small corner of the gym with cones, then said, "All the brown kids, you go into that corner," the consent agreement reads.

Three children in the class who were visible minorities went to that corner, while the rest of the class played separately, according to the agreement, which indicates that Lontayao told the two groups they could neither play with nor speak to each other.

Then, when it came time for a water break, Lontayao told the visible minority students they would have to wait until after the white students got their water.

"At one point, one of the students in the minority group began to cry," the agreement reads.

Lontayao then concluded the exercise, explaining how unfair segregation was and apologizing to the students who were upset, according to the agreement.

A month after the incident, the school district issued Lontayao a letter of discipline, suspending her without pay for 20 days. The district also required her to take the course "Learning About Racism" from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and reassigned her to a different school, the agreement reads.

The one-day suspension of Lontayao's teaching certificate represents the commissioner's addition to the discipline the teacher has already faced. According to the agreement, the suspension reflects Lontayao's breach of "Standard 1" of the Professional Standards for BC Educators.

"Lontayao failed to treat students with dignity and respect and did not show sufficient care for their mental and emotional wellbeing," the discipline document reads.

The teacher served her one-day suspension on Monday.