BURST
A B.C. high school teacher has been suspended an extra day and ordered not to work with vulnerable students for sharing inappropriate comments and sexualized personal stories with students.
Robert Luke Acheson signed a consent resolution agreement with the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation in which he admits to professional misconduct during the 2022-23 school year. It was posted online Tuesday.
The agreement says Acheson was working as an inclusion teacher — one who teaches students with special needs or other vulnerabilities — at a secondary school in Chilliwack when he behaved inappropriately on several occasions.
He commented on students’ physical appearance as well as the physical appearance of another staff member at the school.
Acheson shared a story with students “about a traumatic personal incident that occurred when he was in high school or middle school, which included inappropriate content of a sexual nature,” as well as another about his high school girlfriend that featured sexual content.
In June 2023, the school district suspended Acheson for 15 days without pay and ordered him to take a course on professional boundaries. He was also told not to take assignments involving vulnerable students, such as working as an inclusion teacher, a pathways teacher or in the alternative education program.
The commissioner launched an investigation that summer and ruled on the punishment last month. The commissioner decided a further one-day suspension was warranted because Acheson “failed to maintain professional boundaries” in the discussions with students.