Inappropriate texts to students cost teachers their jobs

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s independent teacher commissioner has cancelled two certificates this month because of inappropriate late-night messaging with minors.

Robert Gregoire is no longer permitted to teach in the River East Transcona School Division or elsewhere in the province after he was found to have called a student “my beautiful” and “princess,” among other pet names he used in online communications over multiple years.

Brady Nurse, who became the subject of a workplace probe after RCMP contacted the Portage la Prairie School Division about his actions, was also recently stripped of his licence.

New consent resolution agreements — public documents outlining agreed-upon facts and consequences in disciplinary cases — reveal the men in both cases repeatedly engaged in boundary-crossing behaviour.

In separate agreements, commissioner Noni Classen concluded both teachers sent messages to a student during the school day, late at night and into the early hours of the morning.

Gregoire used both his school-approved Microsoft Teams account and personal cellphone to exchange thousands of messages with “Student A,” beginning in March 2022 when she was a Grade 8 student of his.

The middle school teacher told the girl he missed her and made reference to Student A being his “favourite student” and said that she was very special (‘très spéciale’) to him,” according to a summary of the case.

After the girl graduated from middle school, he repeatedly invited her to visit or meet him in-person near her high school. He invited her to go to restaurants, get ice cream and go skating.

Text messages show he asked the student if he should apply for a new job — located at her high school — in 2024 and she was the first person he told when he received an offer to transfer.

He told the student he’d put his name forward for the role, “but only because she said so.”

Classen concluded the teacher participated in “a sustained and deliberate pattern of misconduct” that had the potential to interfere with the girl’s understanding of healthy relationships.

He hugged the girl goodbye on school grounds when he was placed on administrative leave in December 2024, according to the consent resolution agreement.

“Mr. Gregoire’s conduct was unacceptable and falls well below the standards expected of teachers entrusted with the care and education of students. RETSD took the matter seriously,” Supt. Sandra Herbst said in a statement.

Herbst said the division, the second largest in Manitoba, supports the commissioner’s ruling.

While noting she is appreciative of Classen’s efforts, Herbst said there are inaccuracies in its record keeping about the case. She said she has contacted Classen’s office about the timeline published in the consent resolution agreement.

The five-page document indicates a principal issued a reminder to Gregoire about the division’s code of conduct in June 2024 — about six months before he was put on a leave.

Herbst is calling for an update to make explicitly clear the division only learned about the teacher’s texts after he was placed on paid administrative leave in December 2024.

RETSD has clear expectations that ban texting, instant messaging and social networking with students.

Staff are only permitted to communicate about education-related matters using Microsoft Teams and other division-approved platforms that are accessible to administrators.

It was around that time the division contacted the Winnipeg Police Service and Child and Family Services, in addition to conducting its own investigation, she noted.

Classen told the Winnipeg Free Press the facts in all case summaries reflect the evidence available to her and what the teacher in question has admitted to doing.

“A CRA is not intended to provide a comprehensive account of all events, policies, investigative steps, or actions taken or by other parties, such as school divisions. The focus is on the teacher’s professional misconduct,” the commissioner said in an email.

Both Gregoire and Nurse voluntarily entered consent resolution agreements. The commissioner launched these probes after receiving disclosures from their former employers this spring.

Gregoire’s certificate, which he earned in 2009 and voluntarily surrendered in April, was officially cancelled on Oct. 6.

Nurse permanently lost his licence on Oct. 16 — less than five years after he became a certified teacher in Manitoba and about one year after public records state he began sending inappropriate texts to a student.

Classen did not publish examples of the content he sent to the student and the case summary does not mention the minor’s sex or age.

“Nurse engaged in inappropriate communications with a student experiencing circumstances of heightened vulnerability known to him,” said the agreement that indicates the teacher did not co-operate with his former employer’s investigation at first.

Nurse retrieved and submitted deleted texts to his division six weeks after he lied about handing over all the messages. He wasn’t forthcoming “due to concerns that some of the content … might be perceived as inappropriate.”

Portage la Prairie School Division Supt. Pamela Garnham said the division is satisfied with the outcome of this case and has no further comment.

Nurse, who resigned from his role in March, voluntarily surrendered his certificate on an interim basis in May.

Mounties confirmed the Portage la Prairie detachment learned about interactions between him and a student last December.

“RCMP made the school division aware of the interactions, which were not criminal in nature,” spokesperson Kevin Engstrom said in an email.

» Winnipeg Free Press