A former Vancouver teacher has agreed to never again apply for a teaching certificate after he sent several inappropriate texts to a student, told her he loved her, and drove by her house.
An unnamed, 17-year-old girl in Grade 12 and an unnamed school in School District No. 39 was never taught by Hsu Yang Cheng, says a ruling released by the Teacher Regulation Branch.
But over a few months in 2013, he texted her on multiple occasions.
“Are you coming to [school] today? Every day less brighter without your presence,” read one text.
“I do believe that I should respect you wanting to be alone but I guess I will just keep duping daily update to you until you tell me to stop,” read another.
Cheng told the girl that people cared about her and that he would be there for her with any negative experiences she was dealing with.
He also told her to put some makeup on to “see how beautiful you are,” to talk to him because he couldn’t fall asleep, and that he loved her.
He took her shopping and bought her thousands of dollars in shoes, clothes, wallet, headphones, a gaming device and a cell phone.
Cheng also used the school’s database without permission or consent to find her address, and drove by her house twice.
Also taught IT class
In a separate case listed by the regulation branch, Cheng was also found to have taught a Grade 12 IT class in which students shared their year-end projects with each on a network drive.
The content of the projects was inappropriate, including homophobic slurs, swearing, gun violence, execution-style killing, and trivialization of sexual violence towards women.
He was suspended with pay in April of that year, and resigned from the school district a few months later.
His teaching certificate was cancelled in 2014 because of non-payment.
laura.baziuk@bpdigital.ca
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