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Quebec students suspended for posting teacher's outburst online

Dave Rogers, CanWest News Service; Ottawa Citizen
Published: Saturday, November 25, 2006

OTTAWA -- Quebec school officials are considering banning the use of cameras and cellphones in all classrooms after two students secretly recorded their teacher's angry outburst and posted three clips on YouTube.

Jocelyn Blondin, chairman of the Commission scolaire des Portages-de-l'Outaouais, said Friday two Grade 9 students, one female and the other male, provoked the unnamed teacher last week at Ecole Secondaire Mont-Bleu in Gatineau, Que.

The school convinced YouTube to remove the videos on Monday and suspended the students indefinitely this week because they knew that the school has a strict policy banning cellphones and digital cameras. Blondin said board officials will meet with the students and their parents Monday to determine when the suspensions will end.

The students are in a special class because they have academic problems, Blondin said. He added other students told him the teacher was good at helping them improve their grades.

The teacher, who has more than 30 years' experience, remains on stress leave. The teachers' union has asked the board to ban cameras and camera-equipped cellphones in all classrooms within its jurisdiction because they can be used to invade the privacy of teachers and students.

Union vice-president Louis Belcourt said the students caused a disturbance throughout a class and recorded the teacher's reaction on a tiny digital camera when he ordered them to leave. School board officials said the camera was small enough to escape the teacher's notice for about 50 minutes.

Blondin said this is the first time an Outaouais student has posted a video of a teacher on YouTube, but a similar incident happened about two weeks ago at a school north of Quebec City.

"I think students are just trying to embarrass the teachers they don't like," Blondin said. "In the future, students will have to keep their cellphones in their pockets and use them outside of class."