A Richmond teacher has had his teaching certificate suspended after he was found to have repeatedly contacted students on Instagram and taken photos and videos of them that he stored on his phone.
Marcel Vasile Sincraian was reported, according to the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulation, to have carried out “inappropriate behavior” during the 2018-2019 school year.
The suspension decision stated that Sincraian, who taught math and science at Palmer secondary, used Instagram to message students on non-school-related matters and was described as “persistent in his attention to (female students), despite their attempts to rebuff him.”
According to the decision, Sincraian communicated both in person and on social media about personal matters.
He had also given some students two letters that he wrote “about his personal life, including his prior romantic relationships.”
Photos and videos of primarily female students were also found to have been saved on Sincraian’s phone.
"Most of these photographs and recordings are of female students and some were taken without the knowledge or consent of the students. He did not consider whether the parents had given consent for images to be taken of their children at school," the decision read.
The Richmond School District reported Sincraian to the board in May 2019 and he resigned the following month.
According to the decision, Sincraian agreed to a two-month suspension of his certificate of qualification and attended sessions with a registered psychologist to "understand appropriate professional boundaries and how to maintain them."
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