Disciplinary and Professional Conduct Board and Hearing Panels
The Teachers Act sets up a Disciplinary and Professional Conduct Board (DPCB), whose purpose is to provide the Commissioner with a pool of council members who can serve on hearing panels. The Board is comprised of nine council members from the BC Teachers' Council. Five members of this nine-member Board must be non-BCTF members from other educational partner groups.
The following nine council members were appointed to the Disciplinary and Professional Conduct Board in 2012. They will serve on the Board for the terms indicated.
- Catherine Abraham (1 year)
- Don Boyd (1 year)
- Bruce Cummings (2 years)
- Avi Gupta (2 years)
- John Hall (2 years)
- Patricia Haslop (2 years)
- Andrew Leathwood (3 years)
- Teresa Rezansoff (3 years)
- Fred Robertson (2 years)
Additional Public (Non-Board) Hearing Panel Pool Members
The Commissioner may also appoint persons who are not members of the Board to a sit on hearing panels. The purpose of public (non-Board) panel members is to provide input from persons outside the school system to strengthen public confidence in the hearing process. The following nine members of the public were appointed in 2012 to the Hearing Panel Pool following a province-wide public invitation for applications. They will serve on the Board for the terms indicated.
- Susan Davis (2 years)
- Scott Fleming (2 years)
- Meg Gaily (2 years)
- Georgeann Glover (2 years)
- Shawn Muzyka (2 years)
- Nerys Poole (2 years)
- Allen Soroka (2 years)
- Rod Willis (2 years)
- Ronald Yaworsky (2 years)
Learn more about public hearings and the hearing process.
DPCB Biographical Statements
Catherine Abraham (appointed - BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils) has been involved in parent education in BC for over 20 years and has written extensively for parents on a variety of educational topics. She has worked at the provincial level and has held numerous executive and advocate positions on school and district parent advisory councils.
Don Boyd (appointed - BC Principals' & Vice-Principals' Association) is currently the principal at Ballenas Secondary School in Parksville, and has over 30 years experience in both in the classroom and administration. He has held many varied roles at the BCPVPA, including chairperson for the Supervision for Learning Committee. Boyd has been the president of the local chapter of the Administrators Association, president of Learning Forward BC, and he has developed and facilitated workshops at the district, provincial and international level.
Bruce Cummings (elected - Interior) has 30 years experience in the classroom across two districts. He has held various BCTF union positions, including president for both the Peace River North Teachers’ Association and the Vernon Teachers’ Association, and has served on the Professional Relations Advisors Committee. Cummings has also acted as mediator for the Internal Mediation Service.
Avi Gupta (elected - Northern) has 12 years of experience working in classrooms in northern British Columbia in both the public and First Nations school systems. He has been involved in a variety of BCTF, local and district committees, and has been a basketball coach at the school level.
John Hall (elected - Vancouver Coastal) has been a teacher for 14 years, currently at Whistler Secondary. He serves as a local BCTF representative for School District No. 48 (Sea to Sky). For the past five years, he has also been an elected member of provincial Judicial Council of the BCTF. Previously, he spent three years as president of the Sea to Sky Teachers’ Association.
Patricia Haslop (appointed - Federation of Independent School Associations) was the principal of the Vancouver Hebrew Academy in Vancouver, prior to her retirement in 2010. She has over 34 years in education, including working as a teacher, vice-principal, principal, director of instruction and assistant superintendent in various school districts across Canada in both public and independent school systems. She has experience with Choice Programs/Schools, Special education, Aboriginal education and the selection of new administrators.
Andrew Leathwood (appointed - BC School Superintendents Association) is the director of innovative learning services in School District No. 8 (Kootenay Lake) and lives in Nelson. He has been an educator for over 30 years, as a teacher, counselor, vice-principal, principal and now member of district staff. He is an active member of Rotary, has coached youth sport for over 30 years, and is currently on the BCSSA Professional Development Committee.
Teresa Rezansoff (appointed - BC School Trustees Association) is currently the board chair for School District No. 51 (Boundary) and was recently reappointed to the role of vice president for the BCSTA, where she has also served on several committees. She has been chair of parent advisory councils at both elementary and secondary schools, and has served as regional coordinator and provincial leadership council member for the Special Olympics.
Fred Robertson (elected - Vancouver Island) has been teaching on Vancouver Island since 1989 and previously taught in northern Manitoba, Nunavut and Brazil. He has coached and managed minor hockey in his community for the past 17 years. For the last ten years, he has also served as an executive for the minor hockey organization and as a part of the advisory group for the Vancouver Island North Woodlands.
Public Pool Biographical Statements
Susan Davis has 35 years of experience in various roles in the nursing profession, including eight years as an investigations officer for the Alberta Association of Registered Nurses. In that role, she gained experience with professional tribunals, administrative law, the rules of natural justice and decision writing. She also worked for four years as a contract investigator for other disciplines, including for the Protection for Persons in Care Act in Alberta.
Scott Fleming is a senior lawyer with six years of experience presiding at administrative law hearings and conducting investigations under delegated authority. Committed to serving the public interest, he previously worked as a coroner for the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, and currently works as a complaints resolution officer for the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia.
Meg Gaily currently sits as a panel member and chair of the Employment & Assistance Appeal Tribunal, and most recently worked as the research counsel for the Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the decline of the Fraser River sockeye. Previously, she worked as the law officer to the BC Court of Appeal.
Georgeann Glover is corporate counsel to a group of private Victoria companies focused on real estate acquisition, development and asset management. She has also served as vice chair for the Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, and has experience serving local government and school districts.
Shawn Muzyka has 20 years of experience with senior management positions across the education sector, including serving as registrar of the Private Post-Secondary Education Commission. While in that role, she oversaw the registration and compliance of private post-secondary institutions and conducted administrative hearings.
Nerys Poole retired from the BC Ministry of Attorney General in 2005, where she practised administrative and constitutional law for 10 years. From 2006 to 2008, she sat on the Property Assessment Appeal Board, heard appeals and wrote hearing decisions. She has also worked as a teacher.
Allen Soroka is currently a chair of the Mental Health Review Board, and previously sat as chairman on both the BC Benefits Appeal Tribunal and the Senate Committee on Appeals on Academic Discipline. Throughout his career, he practised law for the New York Bar and held various administrative law positions. He also worked as an adjunct professor of law, and spent many years as the assistant law librarian at UBC, including a term as librarian’s representative for the UBC Senate.
Rod Willis has over 30 years of experience in the professional forestry setting, including appointments to government – industry working groups, advisory committees and multi-stakeholder processes. He has also managed diverse workforces in both unionized and non-unionized settings. He is currently a member of the Disciplinary Panel of the Association of BC Forest Professionals and has had the benefit of several administrative law courses over the last several years.
Ronald Yaworsky served on the UBC Senate for 19 years and as a member of the Appeals on Academic Standing Committee, which included six years as chair. In that role, he was responsible for the conduct and decision writing for all hearings. He has been an active volunteer with the Red Cross for many years - deployed to international disasters - and has spent over three decades working with First Nations communities across BC and the North, as an engineer and project manager.